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Winnipeg Free Press
22-07-2025
- Climate
- Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg cellphone users scratch their heads over tornado alert
Winnipeggers may have received a tornado alert on their phones on Monday — some repeatedly — but it wasn't for them and they were never in any danger. While the Environment Canada emergency alert popped up on the cellphones of many Winnipeggers at about 6:30 p.m. — urging them to 'take immediate cover in a basement or interior room if weather threat approaches' — it was intended for residents in the Rural Municipality of MacDonald, southwest of the city. Some of its communities include Oak Bluff, La Salle, Brunkild and Starbuck. Environment and Climate Change Canada meteorologist Crawford Luke said the alert was sent out when radar screens showed tornado conditions over the municipality. 'The radar looked really good (for a tornado), but we haven't received any reports of damage,' Luke said on Monday. 'A few storm watchers saw some rotation in the clouds, and a funnel cloud was spotted by someone at the airport, but to our knowledge, neither a tornado or funnel cloud did any damage.' An employee at the municipality confirmed no tornado touched down in the area. As to why Winnipeggers also received the alert, when they weren't in danger, Erik de Groot, national program and business development associate director of the Meteorological Service of Canada, said it is because of the locations of cell towers. 'The AlertReady system triggers any wireless towers that serve the zone, under an alert, including those that are outside the alert zone on the edge,' de Groot said. 'Near the edges, and even outside of the alert zone, those towers also will be serving areas outside the alert zone. Wireless devices are not aware if they are inside the alert. They receive the alert from the tower and then sound the alert. So it is possible that a user is outside the alert zone, but connected to a tower (serving) the alert zone. 'Experience has shown this can be 20 (to) 40 kilometres or more. It really depends on the tower.' While some Winnipeggers on social media said they received upwards of five alert messages for the one event, de Groot said people should only receive one alert. 'There may be multiple updates to an alert message, but the phone knows it already received it and will not 'beep' again,' he said. 'It may be possible that people have different applications that are providing different alerts or 'beeping' on any updates.' Bell MTS spokeswoman Jessica Benzinger said it, as the cellphone service provider, does not control the content, timing or frequency of emergency alerts or who gets them. 'These alerts are issued by authorized government agencies like Environment and Climate Change Canada through Canada's public alerting system,' Benzinger said. 'Bell's role is to provide the wireless network that enables alerts to reach compatible devices in the affected area. The messages pass through our network, but we do not control what's sent, how often, or to whom. Factors like location, device settings, and potential re-transmissions, from the alerting authority, may explain why some customers received multiple alerts.' Kevin RollasonReporter Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press's city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin. Every piece of reporting Kevin produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Expect hotter-than-usual weather this summer as Manitoba battles wildfire season, experts say
Weather experts say Manitoba is expected to see above-normal temperatures this summer, which could increase the risk of wildfire as the province continues to grapple with out-of-control blazes across the region. "There is a warmer than normal trend expected in the forecast for Manitoba for the summer season. And this is combined with a possibility for drier conditions as well — two elements essentially that are not favourable," said Jennifer Smith, the national warning preparedness meteorologist with the Meteorological Service of Canada at Environment and Climate Change Canada. Temperatures will be about a degree or two above normal across the country through August, although the risk of wildfires remains highest in central and western provinces and territories, modelling by Environment and Climate Change Canada suggests. Alex Crawford, an assistant professor in the department of environment and geography at the University of Manitoba, said forecasts show the confidence on those above-normal temperatures, while high across the province, is especially high in northern Manitoba. But other elements of the summer forecast that could affect wildfire risk are generally harder to predict accurately. For example, Crawford said "we really can't say anything confidently about" precipitation this summer, while predicting the amount of fires that start from lightning from thunderstorms is "a fool's errand." Another factor Crawford said could be worthwhile trying to predict is wind, which Environment and Climate Change Canada doesn't present in its seasonal forecasts. "Maybe in the future they will start doing that," he said. "It's totally feasible. Are we there yet? No. The fact that our precipitation forecasts seasonally are so bad is a good indication that we still have a lot of work to do." Smith said although the federal agency's forecasts don't give detail on things like wind and lightning, it's something to be mindful of. "Summer is storm season — that's when you do get all of the lightning activity," she said. Manitoba has recently had some rain in certain parts of the province, but Natural Resources and Indigenous Futures Minister Ian Bushie warned Thursday the province likely isn't out of the woods yet when it comes to wildfire season. "Actually, I would almost hazard to say we're not even in the height of our wildfire season yet. So as we go on, I'm encouraging Manitobans to be very fire smart and vigilant, as we talk about human starts," Bushie said at a news conference. As of Friday, provincial wildfire data showed there were 21 fires burning across Manitoba, with seven out of control. The total number of fires to date was 117, with nine of them starting from natural causes, 103 being caused by people and five under investigation. The update comes in a Canadian wildfire season shaping up to be the second-worst on record, federal officials said Thursday. "We are expecting a hot and dry summer, and definitely leading to a forecast of increased fire danger conditions for much of western and northern Canada," Michael Norton, director general of the Northern Forestry Centre with Natural Resources Canada, said during a government technical briefing in Ottawa. Wildfires have scorched 3.7 million hectares across the country so far — six times the area of Prince Edward Island. The blazes have consumed about 800,000 hectares on average annually since 2014. About 76 per cent of the total area burned in Canada is in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Norton said while the start of wildfire season was "relatively normal" in early spring, the forest fire situation rapidly worsened over the past few weeks — driven by higher-than-average temperatures, especially across the west, with low accumulated precipitation on top of already dry conditions. Wildfires in Manitoba have forced thousands of people out of their homes this season, although it was announced earlier this week that some would slowly be allowed to return to their communities starting this weekend. Despite that progress, the province on Friday was deemed to be at a high fire danger level, with the potential for new blazes due to lightning and human cases continuing, the government said in a news release.
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Extended Forecast: How will the rest of May shape up?
DES MOINES, Iowa — Our average high this time of year is around 70 degrees in Des Moines, and it's felt a lot more like June lately than average. However, it appears we'll balance things out as we head into the second half of May. While models become less reliable at this range, they can give us an idea of general trends. Above and below, the raw temperature forecasts from the National Blend of Models and the European computer model (which tends to be a little cool). Both give us less heat as we head into the second half of May. The European model's 50 ensemble members take us through May 25th and, in general, give us better rain chances beyond May 18th. Regarding the May 19th stormy forecast in particular, the GFS computer model shows us a decent chance to see stronger thunderstorms in the central U.S. Our 8-to-14-day outlook, below, finally trends cooler than average and indicates above-average precipitation chances. The North American Ensemble Forecast System (NAEFS) is a collaborative weather forecasting project involving the Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC), the United States National Weather Service (NWS), and the National Meteorological Service of Mexico (NMSM). Launched in November 2004, NAEFS combines state-of-the-art ensemble forecasts from the MSC's Global Environmental Multiscale Model and the NWS's Global Forecast System to provide probabilistic weather guidance for North America, covering forecast periods from 0 to 384 hours (up to 16 days). Its output below is similar to the Climate Prediction Center's above. Finally, the Pacific-North American Oscillation forecast indicates a trough of low pressure in the western/central U.S. may be in place during the latter part of May, also increasing our thunderstorm chances. Possible good news for farmers and gardeners. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Eight hurt as plane overturns on landing at Toronto airport
An airliner has overturned on arrival at Toronto's Pearson Airport, injuring at least eight people including a child. The airport confirmed on X that an 'incident' occurred with the Delta Airlines flight from Minneapolis and that all passengers and crew are accounted for. One passenger is critically injured and seven others were also hurt, paramedics said. Video from the scene showed the Mitsubishi CRJ-900LR upside down on the snowy tarmac as emergency workers hose it down. The plane was partly obscured by snow from a winter storm that hit Toronto over the weekend. Ornge air ambulance said it was transporting one young patient to Toronto's SickKids Hospital and two adults with critical injuries to other hospitals in the city. 'Emergency teams are responding,' the airport said in a post on the social platform X. 'All passengers and crew are accounted for.' It is too early to say what caused the plane to turn over, but weather may have played a factor. According to the Meteorological Service of Canada, the airport was experiencing blowing snow and winds of 32mph gusting to 40mph. The temperature was about minus 8.6C. The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that the Transportation Safety Board of Canada will lead the investigation and provide updates. It is at least the fourth major aviation mishap in North America in the past month. A commercial jetliner and an Army helicopter collided near Washington DC on January 29, killing 67 people, a medical transport plane crashed in Philadelphia on January 31, killing the six people on board and another person on the ground, and 10 were killed in a plane crash in Alaska. Delta said in a statement it was 'aware of reports of Endeavour Flight 4819 operating from Minneapolis/St Paul to Toronto-Pearson International Airport as involved in an incident'. Endeavour Air, based in Minneapolis, is a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines and the world's largest operator of CRJ-900 aircraft. The airline operates 130 regional jets on 700 daily flights to more than 126 cities in the US, Canada and the Caribbean, according to the company's website. The CRJ900, a popular regional jet, was developed by Canadian aerospace company Bombardier. It is in the same family of aircraft as the CRJ700, the type of plane involved in the midair collision near Reagan National Airport on January 29. Ontario's premier Doug Ford said on X he was 'relieved there are no casualties after the incident at Toronto Pearson'. 'Provincial officials are in contact with the airport and local authorities and will provide any help that's needed,' he added. Toronto is the capital of Ontario province.
