Thunderstorms soak Winnipeg with hail and as much as 35mm of rain

Hail-packed thunderstorms brought powerful winds and tornado warnings to south-central Manitoba on Thursday, leaving behind mounds of ice pellets — some toonie-sized — and the promise of more on Friday.

Winnipeg was by far the hardest hit by rain, though the amounts varied greatly, from 10-12 millimetres in the east and southeast sides of the city to 29-35 mm in the west and central areas.

That data comes from the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network, CoCoRahs, a network of citizen volunteers who measure weather data, from which Environment Canada gathers reports.

Outside the city, the greatest rainfall was in the southern Red River Valley. St. Adolphe reported about 24 mm while the amounts ranged from 12-16 mm in Morris and St-Pierre-Jolys.

No reports of any tornadoes have come in.

“However, those storms did go on to produce a 90 kilometre [an hour] gust in Morris,” said Environment Canada meteorologist Justin Shaer.

“Based off what we were seeing, we thought it warranted a tornado warning at the time.”

A car tire is seen close up next to a pile of hailstones in a parking lot.
Enough hail was collected in some places to make it look like winter again. (Warren Kay/CBC)

Nickel-size hailstones fell in several Winnipeg neighbourhoods, including Charleswood, Westwood and Waverley Heights.

“The largest reported was toonie-sized and that was in the Lindenwoods area,” Shaer said.

While the sun is expected to shine brightly and warm Winnipeg up to 22 C on Friday, don’t put that umbrella away just yet.

The clouds and thunderstorms are likely going to roll into the city again by the late afternoon and last through the night, Shaer said.

The good news, though, is that northwest Manitoba’s fire zone is also in for a soaker this weekend.

“We’re looking at rainfall totals upwards of 40-45 mm in that area — kind of Flin Flon, Cranberry Portage and The Pas regions by the end of the weekend. So a substantial amount of rain,” Shaer said.

“I don’t know if it will be enough exactly to completely extinguish the fires, [but it’s] certainly better than dry and hot conditions.”

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