Reported tornado sighting near Englefeld on Tuesday; weather office can’t rule it out

From snowfall to swirling skies, the weather can change very quickly in Saskatchewan.

A caller to 980 CJME on Tuesday said they saw a tornado near Englefeld, which was not included in the funnel cloud advisory that was issued for the southwestern part of the province Tuesday afternoon. The advisory has since been lifted.

980 CJME reached out to Environment and Climate Change Canada on Wednesday morning to confirm the reported tornado sighting. Meteorologist Chris Stammers said a tornado could’ve popped up near Englefeld, but added it’s more likely that one appeared in the Shaunavon and Leader areas.

“These things can trickle in after the fact, but (we) haven’t seen or heard (of a tornado near Englefeld) yet,” he said. “Certainly it’s possible.”

The meteorologist said the whole province was unsettled weather-wise on Tuesday, adding funnel clouds could’ve appeared anywhere there was a thunderstorm.

“A tornado would’ve been even lower likelihood, but (we) couldn’t rule it out for sure in (Tuesday’s) setup,” he added.

There is a clear difference between funnel clouds and a full-blown tornado.

According to Stammers, funnel clouds are quick little spin-ups in the atmosphere that don’t touch down; tornadoes always do.

“(Funnel clouds) sometimes do touch down as a landspout tornado, which … is a weaker form of a tornado,” he said. “(Funnel clouds) are certainly not like their longer-lived supercellular cousins that do all the damage and stuff.”

He also said funnel clouds can happen with any storm, adding they’re probably more common than people think.

“Most times, we don’t even hear about them. They happen so fast,” Stammers added.

Both Regina and Saskatoon have a risk of a thunderstorms in their respective weather forecasts for Wednesday.

As for whether there could be tornadoes in either city on Wednesday, Stammers said there’s a lower chance of funnel clouds on Wednesday than there was the day before.

“The higher threat has shifted eastward over southern Manitoba, but … with any thunderstorm there could certainly be some funnel clouds,” he said.

When taking a look at weather across the province, Stammers said since things can change really rapidly with regard to thunderstorms, Environment Canada will issue an advisory if there’s a real threat of a tornado or funnel clouds.

“It was certainly a higher risk (on Tuesday) and that’s why the advisory went out, but as always we’ll be monitoring things as they change,” he said. “But as of (Wednesday morning), it doesn’t look like we’ll need (to send out an advisory on Wednesday).”