A blanket of hail fell on the town of Wakaw over the weekend. (Saskatchewan Weather Tracker Facebook/Cynthia R Salgado)

By Rob Mahon

Weekend Hailstorm

Hailstorm brings wild weather to Wakaw over weekend

May 31, 2022 | 12:00 PM

A massive hailstorm was in the forecast for the town of Wakaw over the weekend, and unfortunately, the forecast was exactly right.

The first message for a severe thunderstorm warning came at 5:51 p.m. on Saturday, May 28. It was updated at 6:02 p.m. with the warning ending by 6:28 p.m. Those warnings predicted the thunderstorm could be capable of producing loonie-sized hail and wind gusts of up to 100 kilometers per hour.

“Looking at Twitter and what we’ve received ourselves in terms of information about this storm, we can confirm that yes, not only large hail but a lot of hail fell,” said Natalie Hasell, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment Canada. “It kind of blanketed a lot of areas.”

“Strong straight-line winds came out of this thing and there might even have been a little bit more going on,” said Hasell. “One video looks very suggestive of a gust-nado.”

A gust-nado is essentially a gust of wind so strong that a little circulation of surface air can cause it to spin up and resemble a small tornado. Environment Canada did not yet have any confirmation that this had happened, but videos on social media showed the storm was a hard-hitter.

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Hasell said she hadn’t seen any messages with respect to damage or injury, so she was hoping people had avoided the worst of the potential havoc of the storm. If you do find yourself in the path of a storm like that, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself, she said.

“If you’re home, we would prefer you stay in a well-constructed building away from windows, away from doors, away from skylights,” Hasell said. “All of those things are potentially damaged or broken by hail. If you’re driving, the idea here is to drive to safety. If there’s nothing nearby, pull off the highway in a safe, secure manner.”

According to Hasell, parking under an overpass might not be the good source of shelter it seems like, as winds can often be at their harshest in those spots. If hail is especially bad, you’ll want to protect your head and neck with whatever is close to hand.

“Make yourself as small as possible and cover your head and neck with whatever you have,” Hasell said. “If it’s just your hands, that’s what you use. If you have a school bag, a backpack, a briefcase, use that and wait it out.”

Hasell added if people send a tweet to #SKStorm, it’s very likely they will see it and it will help them gather information about the storm.

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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @RobMahonPxP