PHOTOS: Landspout tornado confirmed amid photogenic Alberta storms

Digital Writers
·6 min read

Another day, another round of severe thunderstorms on the Prairies.

Wednesday's focus of the stormy weather was in central Alberta, where severe storms popped up in the afternoon and prompted tornado warnings, briefly. It didn't take long for social media to light up with visuals of hail, shelf clouds, lightning and clear indication of a tornado.

SEE ALSO: Canada's first tornado in 2023 is latest in the year since 2015

Photos of the apparent landspout tornado northeast of Stettler, Alta., surfaced quickly on Twitter just after Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) had issued tornado warnings for parts of the province.

With plenty of reports and visual evidence to support the twister, ECCC confirmed the tornado just north of Botha at approximately 4:37 p.m. MDT. It was reported to have remained over open fields, with no reports of damage at this time. Nickel to golf ball sized hail was also reported, with the largest being reported near Pigeon Lake.

Alberta landspout tornado/Submitted
Alberta landspout tornado/Submitted

Taken in Stettler, Alta. (Graham Scott/Submitted)

There were also reports of heavy downpours and strong winds, in addition to the videos and photos of shelf clouds and the tornado.

Disturbances embedded in a westerly flow are what's responsible for the spat of thunderstorms in recent days. The upper-level pattern evolved Wednesday, as the Prairies were put in an unstable, southerly flow on the backside of a strong, high-pressure ridge across northwestern Ontario.

Below is a selection of visuals from Wednesday's severe storms in Alberta currently making the rounds on social media.

Thumbnail courtesy of Kyle Brittain/Twitter, taken northeast of Stettler, Alta.

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