Tornado

That purple and red splodge towards the bottom right of the map is a tornado that touched down just south of Taber, AB (about 120 miles away) and is still moving northwestwards. The city of Calgary just got put under severe thunderstorm watch; tornados this far north are a rare thing, but just another demonstration of the weather we get out here.

Weird Weather

Last night we had the latest in a series of thunderstorms. We must get one or two a week, always in the early evening after a warm day. Even so, last night's one was an odd one, with bright sunshine shining in from the west and some utterly weird clouds. Here's a photo taken by a reader of the Calgary Herald. It reminds me of the scenes in Independence Day when the alien spaceships appear. Except, in this case, there is no need for Jeff Goldblum, Randy Quaid and Mister President.

Spring?

So it's springtime here supposedly. Yesterday afternoon was a lovely day so I walked to Market Mall. The sun was out and it felt lovely and warm, such that I could go out without a coat. Last night I went to a surprise birthday party for one of the Saturday morning pub-breakfast-and-football people, and just randomly checked the weather forecast before I went out. The big red "WINTER STORM WARNING" notice appeared at the top, necessitating me putting my inner jacket back inside my winter coat. Good job I did, seeing as it was snowing by the time I set off for home at about 11 o'clock. Not much fell downtown, though it never does. By the time I got back to the northwest it was much thicker, and looking out the window today there's probably 10-15cm fallen overnight. The photo above is the view from Beige Towers this morning. Springtime? Not today it seems; it'll be the end of May before the threat of similar occurrences is down to a low percentage.