May 29 Storm Chase

     Turned out to be quite the day in southwestern Manitoba on Thursday. Thunderstorms developed in the afternoon, some severe. Hail and torrential rains ended up being the main threats. 51 mm fell in Swan Valley, 39.7 mm in Melita and 35.6 mm at Brandon Airport according to Manitoba Agriculture and Environment Canada. Some locally higher amounts likely occurred where there are no official weather stations.

     Thursday was my first chase of the year with part of the A Weather Moment team; Scott and Matt. After reaching Virden mid afternoon, we moved south to Pipestone to see the storms that fired near Melita. We ended up not seeing much other than rain and thunder (first two pictures below). After going west to the Saskatchewan border to see the storms there (wasn't much to see as they were dying), we headed east to Carberry (and east of the line of storms that had developed). Some nice picture opportunities came on the way there (pictures 3, 4 and 5). We stayed put just north of Carberry as the sun set (6th picture) and darkness took hold. Lightning became the main feature of interest. We stopped just south of Portage to view the lightning to the west. A fantastic display of light was seen with frequent cloud-to-ground strokes. I've included a few lightning takes from the videos I had taken below (not fantastic pictures I understand). You can click any of the pictures below for an enlarged view.