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Vol. 19, No. 30, Wednesday, June 19, 2024 www.LamontLeader.com
STORM WATCH Lamont County skirts imminent tornado threat as storm burns out BY JANA SEMENUIK The County of Lamont endured a severe storm on the afternoon of June 14, which led to a full tornado warning before the storm eventually dissipated. The warning, which instructed anyone in the area to seek shelter immediately, was ended by 5:15 p.m. Lamont County resident Ann Gagnon, who lives on a farm between Bruderheim and Lamont, said she had no suspicions of inclement weather when she pulled her car out of the driveway at 4:30 p.m. While areas around Lamont County reported some hail, wind, rain and lightning, Gagnon said she was unaware that severe weather watches and warnings were issued for the area earlier in the afternoon. She said she was shocked when she looked towards the sky over her neighbour’s house. “I pulled out of my driveway to go into town, and turn and looked, and saw this massive storm cloud staying over my neighbour's house. Then first thing I did was contact them to see if they were home and to let them know this thing was right over their house,” she said. “Then I came back and grabbed my
camera.” While Gagnon was snapping photos of the massive cloud, she said she couldn’t help but notice how calm the weather was despite the ominous sky. Then she saw the giant circular cloud moving across the sky while slowly starting to rotate. “(My friend) messaged me (just) when the tornado warning came at 4:52 p.m.,” said Gagnon, referring to the Emergency Alert that set off cell phones across the county. “I’ve been here since 4:35 p.m., so maybe (they) should have let us know ahead of time? This thing is sitting here swirling around and we would never have known!” Meteorologist for Environment Canada, Brian Proctor, spoke to the Lamont Leader and said the calmness Gagnon experienced while seeing the rotating cloud is typical of some Alberta storms. “It’s somewhat typical of some of the storms we see in Alberta. It’s what we call a Low Precipitation supercell. Its rotating in the atmosphere and we’re not seeing any of that precipitation or hail reaching the ground,” he said, adding these supercells are still very dangerous.
This rotating low precipitation supercell was spotted by Lamont County resident Ann Gagnon just before a tornado warning was issued on June 14. Photo: Ann Gagnon
Lamont Resident Noah Visscher photographed the circling clouds from the Webb’s shop-yard. In terms of emergency weather alerts, Proctor said there’s often a lapse in time before a warning goes out due to what is being observed on their radar and what is being reported by people in the area, but he could not say whether a warning could have been delivered sooner in the case of the June 14 Lamont County tornado warning. “There were severe thunderstorm warnings out well ahead of it (tornado warning), and the scripts and assorted warnings do talk about the possibility of producing tornadoes, in addition to tornado warnings,” he said. “It was a very convective day, (and) they were doing the best they could with the information they had available. And this is one of those key infor-
mation (pieces) that if the public sees this stuff, it's really important that they report to us as soon as possible. It helps our meteorologist make better informed decisions and (be able to) respond more quickly to getting warnings out.” Proctor said the first warnings that day were at 3:30 p.m. when a severe thunderstorm warning went out for Fort Saskatchewan, Vegreville, Redwater and Smoky Lake. As another cell developed, a new severe thunderstorm warning went out at 4:22 p.m. for Fort Saskatchewan and Lamont County before the tornado warning was issued at 4:52 p.m. All warnings eventually ended by 10:52 p.m.