Tuesday was a day of very active weather with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) reporting wind gusts in excess of 130 km/h in southeastern Alberta (Ralston 135 km/h, Rolling Hills 131 km/h) and wind gusts of 122 km/h in Medicine Hat. Wide-spread wind damage was reported around the region including in and around Calgary. In Strathmore, peak wind gusts of 95 km/h were recorded on Tuesday. The national weather agency is working with the Northern Tornadoes Project to investigate two possible tornadoes associated with this event, and they have confirmed two tornadoes touched down in northwestern Alberta on Monday. As expected, thunderstorms formed in central Alberta Tuesday, and rapidly intensified as they became more organized and tracked south and east. Intense lightning, heavy rain, hail and strong winds were observed throughout the afternoon. Golf ball sized hail stones (4.5 centimetres in diameter) were reported around Brooks. Wednesday will include some instability, but the synoptic set-up will lack the ingredients for the same level of severity or impact as the storm cells from Tuesday. Scattered showers, mild to moderate thunderstorms and a moderate north wind will all be a part of the weather story for central and southern Alberta earlier in the day, before a pattern shift will move things more along a west to east flow. Towering cumulonimbus clouds are likely to form along the foothills in the afternoon, with some potentially turning into thunderstorms in the late afternoon and early evening. Temperatures will remain slightly cooler than average for the next couple of days and return to the low 20s for Friday. Typical of June, there will be little consistency in the forecast – so more showers and thunderstorms are possible for the weekend. The next larger weather system will form in northern Alberta on Friday and bring persistent rain around the Capital region before tracking southeast. Pockets of heavy rain and rapidly intensifying thunderstorms are possible again on Saturday and Sunday, with warmer and more stable conditions forecast for the middle of next week.
