Alberta tornado

An area of low pressure in the upper atmosphere continues to provide the region with enough instability to produce afternoon showers and thunderstorms. On Wednesday such was the case with sunshine to start the day followed by increasing pop up showers in southern Quebec with some thunder. Strong storms did develop in Ontario along a lake breeze. The storms produced hail, heavy rain and even the threat for tornadoes.

Today's showers should be weaker with drier air in place, there is just a 40% chance of some afternoon pesky raindrops. Temperatures will warm to near 22C. On Friday, early sunshine will transition into more showers and thunderstorms, this time a little stronger. Another disturbance in the atmosphere will interact with unstable air and produce a round of showers and storms in the afternoon from Ontario across southern Quebec and into northern New England. Some of the storms could contain small hail and strong winds, but it should not be a widespread severe weather outbreak.

By the weekend high pressure will settle in with a warm and humid period expected until the middle part of next week. Temperatures should approach 30C by Monday. With the heat and humidity, the risk for thunderstorms will increase into Tuesday.

Dust swirls around an apparent tornado near Taber, Alberta on Tuesday evening. (AP photo)

On Tuesday night a rare round of nighttime tornadoes spread across southern Alberta moving north from Montana between 6 and 10pm. There were no reports of injuries but Environment Canada is investigating at least 4 possible tornadoes in Alberta with several also reported in northern Montana.