A thunderstorm may be on the way to Prince Albert today, but conditions aren't right for a severe storm yet. (ID 130704474 © Menno van der Haven | Dreamstime.com)

By Rob Mahon

First Thunderstorm

Prince Albert still waiting on season’s first major storm

Jun 9, 2022 | 12:00 PM

If you’ve been waiting for the first real thunderstorm of the year for Prince Albert, you might not have to wait much longer. The forecast for today calls for possible thunderstorms this afternoon.

Environment Canada predicts a 60 per cent chance of showers today with a risk of a thunderstorm late this afternoon, but a closer look at the pattern shows it may be a patchy sort of storm.

“There’s a band of showers going through the central parts of the province right now,” said Terri Lang, a regional meteorologist with Environment Canada. “In behind, it’s starting to clear but that’s where we expect the thunderstorms to develop. It’s going to be scattered in nature so it’s going to be a hit and miss thing.”

Even if we do see a thunderstorm today, however, those waiting for the massive storms that often come in summer are likely to be left wanting. It hasn’t gotten hot enough or wet enough yet in the province to produce a severe storm.

“We’ve had a few severe thunderstorms in Alberta but nothing in Saskatchewan yet,” said Lang. “Generally, what we need is heat, although that’s not always the case but it helps to get that heat going. We need moisture, and most of the moisture we get to fuel thunderstorms actually comes from the crops that grow. They give off a tremendous amount of moisture.”

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Moisture given off by crops doesn’t have to come from Saskatchewan to form thunderstorms here. Crops in the mid-western United States can send enough moisture into the air to create thunderstorms in Saskatchewan, and Lang has even seen moisture patterns from as far south as the Gulf of Mexico show their effects north of the border.

Other places sending moisture here would be one of the only ways we’ve gotten it so far, as rainfall has been thin on the ground in Prince Albert to this point. The airport hasn’t shown any rainfall so far this month, though that’s about to change.

“No rain yet in June for Prince Albert,” Lang said. “For May, total rainfall was 30.5 (millimeters), so actually on the low side. May is usually a wetter month than that so you guys have been on the dry side.”

Lang added the systems coming through that are supposed to bring rain are going to be “hit and miss” with a lot of pop-up showers that come and go throughout the day.

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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @RobMahonPxP