Severe thunderstorms spawn possible tornadoes in Edmonton area

A line of severe thunderstorms passed through the Edmonton area this afternoon, sending people running for cover from heavy rain, dime-sized hail and two possible tornadoes.

Environment Canada had issued Severe Thunderstorm watches for central Alberta earlier in the day, which were upgraded to warnings at just after 1 p.m. Mountain Time, as storms began to develop south of Edmonton. Tornado watches were added on at that time and within 30 minutes meteorologists had upgraded those as well, after spotting rotation in some of the storm cells.

[ Related: Is the worst of tornado season still yet to come? ]

It was near Pigeon Lake, about 60 km southwest of Edmonton, that the first tornado was spotted at around 1pm:

As the storm continued to the northeast, towards Devon, AB, the Edmonton Airport stopped all flights in and out due to intense lightning, and more pictures started showing up on Twitter of the ominous storm clouds:

The storm continued on, rolling into the southwest Edmonton area, sending residents there into their basements,

and bringing plenty of rain and hail, causing street flooding in many areas.

There have been no reports of tornado damage, and any confirmation of these tornado reports will have to wait until teams from Environment Canada have a chance to investigate them.

[ More Geekquinox: Fort McMurray residents evacuate due to severe flooding ]

Although the warnings for this line of storms ended in the Edmonton area, they pushed on to the northeast and new severe thunderstorm warnings and tornado watches are now in effect for in and around Edmonton as new storm cells have developed and are making their way to the northeast.

Stay up-to-date on weather watches and warnings on Environment Canada's website, and follow hashtags #abwx, #abstorm or #yeg on Twitter for more immediate updates.

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