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.
Winnipeg’s totals were boosted by a handful of storms and downpours that rolled through around 3 a.m., Environment Canada meteorologist Justin Shaer said.
It doesn’t appear any tornadoes formed from the storms — no reports have come in, he said.
“However, those storms did go on to produce a 90 kilometre [an hour] gust in Morris. Based off what we were seeing, we thought it warranted a tornado warning at the time.”
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.
“We’ve got 10-20 mm as a general amount in the forecast for overnight, and there could always be higher amounts localized in the thunderstorms,” he said.
“I would not be surprised if some watches and warnings do get issued over parts of the province. At this time, it doesn’t necessarily scream, per se, tornadoes, but I would never rule anything out, and severe thunderstorms do produce tornadoes.”
Things should ease up in the Red River Valley by Saturday morning, “but then there’s going to be more showers coming Saturday afternoon as well,” Shaer said.
Sunday looks like it could be drier, but there’s another chance of showers on Monday.
“We’re looking at pretty unsettled conditions here over southern Manitoba,” 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.”