Heat records and wind gusts: Wild weather hits southern Saskatchewan

Wild weather affected several communities in southern Saskatchewan on Thursday, with heat records set and extreme wind gusts recorded.

Coronach experienced 94 km/hr wind gusts on Thursday, according to an Environment Canada weather preliminary report.

The community also set a new heat record of 38.6 C – breaking the previous record of 37.2 C set in 1964.

The Coronach Golf Club spent Friday morning cleaning up, after winds knocked over trees and blew debris all over the course, according to a post in a Facebook group. The club was closed during clean-up, but re-opened Friday afternoon.

“It’s a big process because we don’t have a big staff,” said Dennis Hicks, president of the Coronach Golf Club.

“We count on volunteers to come help us and of course everyone else in town was trying to clean up their own yard.”

A handful of insurance claims, mostly shingle damage, had been submitted to Coronach Agencies as of Friday afternoon, according to insurance broker Cal Martin, who is also the town’s mayor.

He said the biggest claim of the windstorm came from the local pharmacy.

“The wind had gotten underneath their metal roofing and peeled back about a third of their roof,” he said.

“To be quite honest, I think we were really lucky. We were probably just on the edge or the tail end of that wind. It could have been much worse.”

Extreme wind gusts were also recorded in Milestone (93 km/hr) and Yellow Grass (85 km/hr).

Three other areas set heat records on Thursday, including Assiniboia (37.7 C), Lucky Lake (36.7 C) and Rockglen (37.5 C).

Environment Canada notes the information provided in its weather summaries is preliminary or unofficial.

Golf ball sized hail (4.5 centimetres) was also reported in Big River. The storm system also created a tornado as it tracked through central Saskatchewan on Thursday evening.