Severe Weather Hits Alberta and Saskatchewan on Tuesday

Early in the morning, the signs of an unstable air-mass were evident when looking at the conditions that parts of Alberta, and Saskatchewan were in. As the photo above shows, the CAPE (thunderstorm energy) values were decently high, all while there was little to no CIN (convective inhibition). Top this off with a moderate amount of wind shear, among other factors, and we have ourselves, not only severe thunderstorms, but potentially tornadic thunderstorms. As my tweet below shows, Environment Canada had already placed a Tornado watch in parts of southwestern Saskatchewan in the morning:

Tornadoes have not yet been confirmed in Saskatchewan, however the southern portions of the province (as well as in parts of southern Manitoba) had to deal with a squall line, that left damaging winds. This squall line was also to blame for flooding in Swift Current, Saskatchewan.

While Alberta was not initially under any tornado watches, parts of southern Alberta were eventually under a funnel cloud advisory in the late afternoon, and a tornado warning in the evening. Multiple funnel clouds were spotted in Carstairs, Alberta, and a couple of Tornadoes were reported.

Only one tornado has been confirmed by Environment Canada, near Brooks, Alberta. They have rated it an EF-0. The other was located near Springbank, Alberta, however it has not yet been confirmed by Environment Canada.

The EF-0 near Brooks, makes it Alberta's fifth tornado so far this year.