Storm chasers from around the continent converged on the southeast corner of Saskatchewan as a powerful system worked it's way up across the border. It brought with it large hail, rain, strong winds, and even tornado activity.

"(There was) no confirmed tornados on the Saskatchewan side. There was one on the Manitoba side, but nothing observed on the Saskatchewan side," noted Environment Canada's Mark Melsness, although the clouds certainly threatened such phenonmeon just before released their torrents.

"Hail and wind were the big story, especially in the Estevan, Bienfait, North Portal areas. Golfball, even up to tennis ball sized hail in and around Estevan, so quite a bit of damage with that including some damaged vehicles, flattened crops, broken windshields and windows and even damaged siding on some of the houses."

The Prairie Storm Chasers reported winds over 150kmh.

Professional storm tracking group, the Prairie Storm Chasers, tweeted out that their well known, tank-like Dominator vehicle had lost it's anemometer in the hail winds, which had last read 151 kmh just east of Estevan.

Rainfall was widely varied across the region. The Estevan Airport just north of town recorded only 5-6 mm, while the city experienced flash flooding, with streets becoming impassable within minutes. The hail that fell literally blanketed the roads, creating extremely slick conditions and a temporary return to winter driving. The resulting steam from the quickly sublimating hail in the warm temperatures also caused poor visibility.

Water also found it's way into the Boundary Dam Power Plant, knocking out all power across the southeast, and crews worked all night to bring the units back up and running. Others patrolled the region, searching for and repairing the many downed powerlines.

Areas such as the Woodlawn Regional Park have also reported quite a bit of damage.

 

"It looks like things have settled down quite a bit now. As far as today goes, we're looking at just a bit of cloud moving in, but not a lot of wind and highs around 23 degrees," said Melsness.