Severe thunderstorm watches issued for much of Sask.

By CKOM Staff

Severe thunderstorm watches issued for much of Saskatchewan

Jul 4, 2020 | 3:37 PM

Environment Canada has issued severe thunderstorm watches for much of the province.

The affected areas cover most of Saskatchewan, from regions around La Loche down to the U.S. border.

Severe thunderstorm warnings have been issued around Meadow Lake, Kindersley and Swift Current.

Meteorologist Alysa Pederson has already seen weak thunderstorms in the Swift Current area, with potential for them to get stronger.

“As the day progresses here and we get a little bit more daytime heating, these storms can actually start to develop a little more strongly, and little more widespread,” Pederson said.

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On social media, users posted photographs of menacing-looking clouds.

In Environment Canada’s terminology, a “watch” means that conditions are favourable for severe weather, including strong wind gusts, large hail and heavy rain.

This is different from “warnings,” where dangerous weather is highly probably or already underway.

Pederson said the storms could bring winds as high as 90 kilometres per hour, with nickel-sized hail and about 15 millimetres of localized rainfall.

“It’s very likely to happen somewhere in the watch area today,” she said.

People are being urged to keep an eye on alerts and forecasts.

The storm is moving east and the worst of it should happen Saturday afternoon and evening. Conditions are looking good on Sunday.

“Overnight, things should clear out and move off into Manitoba … and once they move through, we’re not anticipating too much behind them,” Pederson said.

Severe weather has already been observed this weekend.

On Friday night, the weather office issued tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings for the southern part of the province.

At the Assiniboia weather station, wind gusts were as high as 122 kilometres per hour.