Possible thunderstorms on Wednesday afternoon could even trigger funnel clouds over an area stretching from Yellowknife to Fort Smith, Environment Canada says.
Funnel clouds are not tornadoes, though they can look similar. They are rotating columns of air that drop below a storm cloud but don’t make contact with the ground.
Environment Canada’s Wednesday afternoon forecast advises there’s a small chance of funnel clouds in a region stretching north of Fort McMurray, across Fort Smith and the East Arm of Great Slave Lake to Yellowknife.
Don’t get too excited.
While funnel clouds are an unusual feature of any NWT forecast, we’ve reported on this kind of forecast before without any funnel cloud actually being seen on the day. The forecast could also evolve between now and then.
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That said, storms that looked a whole lot like how funnel clouds are described – and actual tornadoes – have occurred here before.
The funnel cloud forecast continues a turbulent week for weather in this part of Canada. Parts of the NWT had snow, biblical rain or 130 km/h winds last week, while Alberta has been battered by storms of its own. Edmonton was on tornado watch on Tuesday afternoon.
