I was rather amused by a tweet that I saw yesterday from a person that I follow here in the U.S.: "Dear Canada, can we please have our tornadoes back?"
I guess they're a little bored with July's pronounced lack of tornadoes and severe weather here in the states. In fact, we're currently on pace to record the lowest number of tornadoes in the month of July since records have been kept in 1950. So far this month, we've only had 12 tornadoes in the U.S. (preliminary number), compared to 103 last year and a 3 year average of 122.
Meanwhile, up North in Canada, it's tornadoes gone wild! Yesterday was no exception, as shown by the following impressive photos and video taken near Balgonie, Saskatchewan by Greg Johnson:
You can see more on Greg's website, TornadoHunter.com.
As I always like to point out, it takes as little as 1 event to blow away a "trend" when it comes to severe weather, and the monthly tornado count is no exception.
Widespread severe weather is forecast across the Great Lakes today and the Ohio Valley into New England tomorrow. While damaging winds will be the primary threat, there is also a chance of tornadoes. It would take 12 tornadoes to prevent July 2012 from becoming the new "record low" tornado month. The previous record low was 23 in both 1950 and 1951.
I digress, but I can't help but think of this funny story every time I hear the words "Saskatchewan, Canada". I was chasing a severe storm with a tornado on the ground in the middle of nowhere in central Nebraska in June of 1990. Myself and my chase partners were the only people in sight for miles, when all of the sudden an elderly man drove up in an older model 4 door sedan and asked "Pardon me, is this the road to Saskatchewan, Canada?". I stopped taking pictures of the tornado (which I don't even think he noticed) long enough to pull out the road atlas (yes, kiddies, this was well before cellphones and GPS mapping technology) and confirm that yes, in a round about way, he would eventually make it to Saskatchewan on that road!
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