Canada Day storm brings golf ball-sized hail, strong winds and severe thunderstorms to parts of Saskatchewan

A storm on Canada Day brought severe weather to parts of Saskatchewan.

Environment Canada meteorologist Dan Fulton says the conditions came from a low-pressure system that started in Alberta. Conditions prompted a severe thunderstorm warning in west-central Saskatchewan on Saturday afternoon.

“We’ve got quite a few reports of pretty big hail there, some golf ball sized hail near Meadow Lake,” Fulton said.

“We also got some heavy gusts of wind when that system came through.”

Fulton said wind gusts reached more than 60 mph in areas east of Prince Albert, while they reached 60 mph in North Battleford and 54 mph in Saskatoon.

Fulton added that the low-pressure system brought a tornado into central Alberta that destroyed homes and led to lost livestock.

“This is pretty much peak season for severe weather in the Prairies right now, so the [storm] was not uncommon,” said Fulton.

“We’re lucky it didn’t do more damage last night [in Saskatchewan]There was definitely a lot of potential there.”

Fulton added that the storm toppled trees and caused power outages in parts of Saskatchewan. He said the storm may have caused some damage to infrastructure in parts of the province.

Power outages across the province

At noon on Sunday afternoon, some 8,000 SaskPower customers were without power.

Scott McGregor, a spokesperson for SaskPower, said 20,000 customers were out of service at the height of the storm.

“We have teams working in all affected districts,” said Scott McGregor, a spokesman for SaskPower. “So depending on what area customers are in, we should have a good portion of customers back by tonight.”

McGregor noted that there is no estimated recovery time yet for the Nipawin area, where about 5,000 customers are experiencing an outage.

He added that the storm’s widespread area is affecting SaskPower’s ability to speak to customers by phone.

“Since the storms began last night, our outage center has received more than 13,000 calls,” McGregor said. “Based on the number of calls our system can take and how many people can take those calls, it could cause a little longer wait time.”

Janelle Barkman lives on a piece of land outside of Warman, Sask. Her family of seven has been without power for about 14 hours and don’t know when they will get it fixed as she struggled to get in touch with SaskPower.

“That’s pretty frustrating, just not knowing the time,” says Barkman. “I was just sitting in my car charging my phone because I don’t have any other way to charge it and yet you need your phone so they can call you because we’re in a rural area.”

“A lot of times we have to give directions and we have to guide them there.”

Barkman says she appreciates all the work SaskPower is doing to restore power to the county, but would like to see better communication as she is concerned about her food in the fridge and freezer and when their restrooms will be usable again.

McGregor says people should report outages online or keep calling because it’s important that SaskPower has all outages on its books so it can restore power to all customers.

He added that if anyone encounters downed lines or damaged infrastructure, they should keep a safe distance and call SaskPower immediately.

At 3:20 PM on Sunday, there was a SaskTel outage in and around Shoal Lake. Internet, wireless and landline services were all affected by the outage caused by the storm.

“It Was Cruel”

John Brady McDonald was driving Saturday night to pick up his daughters from work at a restaurant in Christopher Lake — about 25 miles north of Prince Albert — when he noticed the sky was getting darker.

He says conditions turned brutal as they drove back from the restaurant.

“It looked like footage from the great depression. It was a pretty big wall of dust flying in. The sky turned black and it lasted about five to six minutes with strong winds,” McDonald said.

“Tree branches came down, we saw the power go out, the car was pelted with sand, I had my hand out the window, it felt like I had my hand in a sandblaster.”

McDonald says climate change is making these severe storms more common. He noted that hail from a storm earlier this week damaged his yard.

“My biggest fear is that we will get used to this and that desire to keep working for a better and healthier planet will disappear.”

Severe weather is expected to continue in some parts of Saskatchewan. A rain warning is in effect for the La Loche area, as the region expects 60 millimeters on Monday morning.