Tornadoes spotted in Manitoba, more storm risk today

Sunday, July 27, 2014, 11:10 AM - Forecasters were mindful of the chance of funnel clouds in southern Manitoba Saturday, but some actually ended up touching down to become full tornadoes.

Environment Canada said at least three were spotted, as part of a system that tracked across the province in the afternoon that also produced thunderstorms and funnel clouds.

"This weak rotation is normally not a danger near the ground. However, on Saturday, the rotation was intense enough to produce brief landspout tornadoes," the agency said in a statement describing the twisters.

Two of the tornadoes were seen near Waterhen between Highway 328 and Lake Manitoba, at around 1 p.m. The first was on the ground, with debris visible near its touchdown point, but there were no damage reports. 

The second was rope-shaped, according to observers, and wasn't on the ground long. 

The third tornado was reported around a kilometre southeast of La Salle at around 7:30 p.m., based on a caller reporting a funnel cloud briefly touching down. Environment Canada says there were numerous images and reports on Twitter to back up the sighting.

There were also several well-defined funnel clouds spotted by several viewers around Manitoba that afternoon.

Southern Manitoba was part of a long band of non-severe thunderstorm risk stretching from the Northwest Territories down through the Prairies to northwestern Ontario on Saturday.

On Sunday, meanwhile, most of the thunderstorm risk is centred on Alberta and Saskatchewan.

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