Tornado warnings issued throughout Manitoba, storms bring significant hail

A number of tornado warnings were issued throughout Manitoba Wednesday evening, as storms rolled through the province.

Just before 6 p.m. Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) started issuing the warnings throughout the province and they continued until later in the evening for places like Shoal Lake and Falcon and West Hawk Lakes.

Meteorologists were tracking several storms that were producing high winds, thunderstorms, rain and large hail, which were being called potentially life-threatening.

There were more than a dozen warnings issued Wednesday evening.

On top of the tornado warnings, tornado watches, as well as severe thunderstorm watches and warnings popped up in Manitoba.

STORM BRINGS BASEBALL SIZED HAIL

At one point, ECCC had a warning out for Fisher River. Jeremy Neault lives in the area and said he had been keeping an eye on the weather ever since a tornado watch was issued.

Eventually, that watch was upgraded to a warning and he said the weather just rolled in.

"At about 6:30 p.m., winds just picked up very fast, the clouds moved in very quickly, it went very dark, fast," said Neault.

Jeremy Neault holding two baseball sized pieces of hail after a storm hit the Fisher River area on July 26, 2023. (Source: Jeremy Neault)

He said he didn't see any funnel clouds in the area, but what did come was large hail – around the size of a baseball.

"All my life I have been living here and not once have I seen hail that large."

The hail caused some dents at Neault's home but no significant damage, however, he said he knows other people who had their windshield broken on their cars.

"We were lucky, thankfully."

He said the storm lasted maybe 10 to 15 minutes and then the sky cleared up.