Environment Canada says chance of tornado is low, but still a risk
People in western New Brunswick are being told to prepare for the possibility of extreme weather on Tuesday, July 14.
Barrie MacKinnon is a meteorologist with Environment Canada’s Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, office.
Despite warnings on other weather sites, Environment Canada has yet to issue any notices on the expected weather.
MacKinnon said northern New Brunswick can expect severe thunderstorms to begin in the late afternoon, with the system moving south through Western New Brunswick as the evening progresses. Winds could reach up to 90 km/h, with hail between 1 and 2 cm and rainfall between 30 and 60 mm.
“We don’t want to cause alarm, because we’ve seen days like this where very little has happened,” he explained when reached on Monday night. “Right now there is a lot of (wildfire) smoke in the upper atmosphere, which can impact thunderstorm formations, but the ingredients tomorrow are good for extreme weather.”
MacKinnon noted that this isn’t the same as a large weather system we might get in the winter.
“It’s hard to know, right now, exactly where things are going; where there will be significant weather,” he said. “With convective weather, you might not see anything in your region, but the next town over might see something.”
While there is a risk of a tornado, MacKinnon says the risk is low.
“The storms will be small, geographically, but big in impact,” he said, explaining that the weather cells will be “sporadic and intense.”
MacKinnon expects the warnings to appear on the Environment Canada website by 11 a.m. The agency will have a person dedicated to tracking the storm on Tuesday.
https://weather.gc.ca/en/forecast/thunderstorms/index.html
As a precaution, many weather sites are urging residents to secure loose items around their home that are at risk of becoming airborne.
