Summer storms

Sandbag walls protect homes along the Souris River in Manitoba yesterday. (Winnipeg Free Press)

Environment Canada spent yesterday compiling a list of damage from thunderstorms across Ontario and Quebec over the weekend. They included downed trees on cars, toppled power lines felled by 100km/h winds and flooded basements from torrential rains. The system also produced storms in the Montreal area on Sunday night. By all accounts the light show was spectacular on parts of the island. Heavy rains swamped some basements as over 40mm of rain fell in a short time from the central part of the city across to the South Shore. Large hail was also reported, up to 4cm in diameter in the Richelieu Valley. All was quiet yesterday with just an isolated shower or storm across eastern Ontario that drifted into new York. Today will be much the same, warm and humid with another 30C day expected.

Yesterday the warmest place in the country was Emerson, Manitoba at 33.4C (91F). Valleyfield in southwest Quebec was not far behind at 31C (88F). Across southern Manitoba the warm and humid air mass was swept east by a cold front late in the day. The front produced widespread severe weather including funnel clouds in Manitoba and across the border in northwest Ontario. Winds gusted to 107km/h in Emerson and there were numerous reports of hail. The rain added to the already swollen Souris River that continues to crest once again and flood portions of southern Manitoba, Saskatchewan and North Dakota.