Medicine Hat storm: What happened to weather warnings?

People in the Medicine Hat region still have questions over the emergency response after a major storm swept through southeastern Alberta Monday.

The storm knocked out power to thousands of customers and resulted in major damage to homes, vehicles, and infrastructure.

The violent weather system took many by surprise. One local tells CityNews they only saw an alert over social media after the storm was over, adding one wasn’t even pushed to their phone.

But Medicine Hat Director of Emergency Management Merrick Brown says the information received initially suggested the extreme weather event was a tornado — meaning the city was bound by certain rules.

“The weather notifications are only to be issued by Environment and Climate Change Canada, so the municipality has strict rules around that and the fact that we are not to issue tornado warnings — those are only issued by Environment and Climate Change Canada,” Brown explained.

An update later that day noted there was no tornado and that the damage to local infrastructure was caused instead by a storm. Meanwhile, Environment Canada confirmed on Tuesday that there was no tornado, saying it was “severe wind event” in the southeastern region of Alberta.

FILE – Power poles are seen toppled over after a major storm hit southeastern Alberta, including the Medicine Hat area. (Courtesy City of Medicine Hat)

“At this time, we have not received any evidence of a tornado, but we continue to seek photos or videos of the event. Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) will continue to collaborate with the Northern Tornadoes Project to document this event,” the agency said, adding wind gusts peaked at 99 kilometres per hour in the Medicine Hat area.

The majority of electricity outages have since been restored in the Medicine Hat region, though repairs and damage surveys on things like power poles and lines continue.

At one point, several thousand customers had lost power in the Medicine Hat, Redcliff, and Cypress County area.

“Given the fact that we have a dedicated team, both within our Incident Command post and obviously the first responders on the ground, we are definitely a citizens-first community, a resident-first community, and therefore we put them as our number one priority and all city staff recognize that,” Brown told CityNews.

“We just have to obviously thank our residents for that community resilience that they practice on a daily basis. They make our lives as first responders significantly easier when it comes to situations like this.”

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• Major storm in Cypress County near Medicine Hat leaves homes, cars damaged

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Meanwhile, CityNews Meteorologist Michael Kuss says the forecast did show a major storm was on the way.

“All the ingredients were there (Monday) for the severe weather. A low-pressure system tracking across Washington, southern B.C., and then slicing right across the southern parts of the province. So what we get in that scenario is that warm, pacific-moisture-laden system, combined with the cooler, drier air that slides across the northern parts of Alberta and across the Prairies. At that mixing point, that’s where we saw the incredibly active weather,” Kuss explained.

However, he admits it can be difficult to sometimes “pinpoint exactly where those severe storms are going to develop, hit, and roll through.”

“But when you have that type of scenario, that type of set up, the potential is always there for hail, for thunderstorms, tornadoes, for sure, and strong, damaging winds — that is what we saw slicing across the southern parts of the province.”

Kuss says while we are in the severe weather season, there’s nothing dramatic in the forecast for the coming week or so. However, warmer air coming in from the south and mixing with the cooler air from the north can create more active weather.