Looking Back: SEVERE Summer Weather in SASKATCHEWAN

[Alberta] [Saskatchewan] [Manitoba]

(Excerpts from The Canadian Weather Trivia Calendar)

• July 3, 2000: 330 millimetres of rain fell on the community of Vanguard in an eight hour period. Due to extensive flooding, roads leading into the community and surrounding area were either destroyed or made impassable. There was significant property damage both in town and to the surrounding farmland.

• 1997 and 1999 Spring Flooding: High spring runoffs over Southwest Saskatchewan in 1997 forced several people in various communities to flee their homes. In the spring of 1999 runoff and rainfall flooded large areas of southeast Saskatchewan and as a result several thousands of acres of land were kept out of production.

• July 4, 1996: The Saskatoon, Maymont and Osler area was struck by a severe weather outbreak which produced an estimated 9 tornadoes, extremely strong plow winds and softball sized hail. Power lines were destroyed in the Maymont area by an F3 tornado, homes and property in the Osler area were damaged by tornadoes, wind and hail, while Saskatoon experienced severe winds which damaged many trees and properties, particularly in the east end. Winds gusts of 120 km/h and 141 km/h were measured by meteorological instruments in the Saskatoon area (Saskatoon airport and Kernan Farms respectively).

• June 25, 1996: Cooler weather and some precipitation over several days helped fire crews extinguish the Wasaw fire, which had been burning in Prince Albert National Park for two weeks. The blaze, thought to have been started by a lightning strike on June 12, consumed 2,170 hectares in the northeastern portion of the park.

• April 9, 1996: As temperatures in parts of southern Saskatchewan rose to almost 20 degrees from the 9^th to the 12^th, the winter's above average accumulation of snow melted, resulting in severe flooding. In Regina, more than 80,000 sandbags were stacked along Wascana Creek for several kilometres through the city, with another 40,000 on standby.

• June 15, 1995: Described as a plough wind, powerful wind gusts in a sudden downward draft of cold, wet air from a thunderstorm fanned straight across Fillmore, SK. Winds exceeding 100 km/h blew the roof off the grain elevator, broke a radio tower, toppled a chimney on a church, and damaged dozens of buildings. Puddles with as much as 50 mm of rain formed in 15 minutes.

• July 8, 1989: Tornado force winds and hail caused considerable damage to buildings and cars in several towns and farms in southeastern Saskatchewan. In Peebles, the general store and the skating/curling rink were blown into the bush about 3 km from where they had originally stood.

• August 3, 1985: After more than 380 mm of rain fell on Parkman SK, two brothers made the best of a bad situation and went water-skiing on their wheatfield.

• May 21, 1979: A tornado tore off part of an annex roof from a Wheat Pool elevator in Regina. The funnel cloud also destroyed a farmhouse and barn and sent a truck flying across the yard.

• August 11, 1972: Severe thunderstorms raked through southeastern Saskatchewan, producing high winds and hail larger than the size of golf balls. Yorkton had damage of two million dollars. Canada's largest hailstone (10 cm diameter, 290 grams) fell from one of these storms near Cedoux.

• May 30, 1961: A huge thunderstorm dumped more than 250 millimetres of precipitation in less than an hour over the hamlet of Buffalo Gap, around 150 kilometres south of Regina. Rainfall totals exceeded 75 millimetres within 100 kilometres of the most intense rainfall. Hail as large as small eggs fell piling as high as 4 metres deep in some places. Strong winds also accompanied the rain and hail, but incredibly no fatalities and very few injuries took place. A remarkable note to add is that this event took place in the driest year on record over the remainder of southern Saskatchewan.

• July 1, 1944 (Lebret) and Aug 9, 1944 (Kamsack): Two devastating tornadoes hit in the same year killing four people at Lebret and three at Kamsack. In addition almost 75 percent of Kamsack's homes and 100 businesses were wrecked.

• June 16, 1943: Canadian and American governments banned the publishing and broadcasting of weather information, for fear it would fall into enemy hands. Even baseball announcers were prevented from commenting on the weather. When the play was suspended because of rain, one announcer supposedly told his audience to "stick your head out of the window if you don't understand the reason for the suspension".

• The Dirty Thirties (~1929 - 1938): Widely considered to be the most significant drought in Saskatchewan - although many would state that the eighties were just as dry. The years of 1936 to 1938 were the worst with 12,831 of the province's farms being abandoned in 1936 alone. Dustorms lasted for days during this period, and the highest temperature ever recorded in Canada occurred at Midale and Yellowgrass on July 5th 1937 when the mercury rose to 45°C.

• June 30, 1912: Known more popularly as the "Regina Cyclone" this tornado was the worst in Canadian history in terms of deaths. Twenty-eight people died, hundreds were injured, and property damage totalled four million dollars with 500 buildings damaged or destroyed. The tornado started 18 kilometres south of the city and continued for another 12 kilometres north before dissipating.