Rain Clouds

FTLComm - Tisdale - Monday, june 11, 2001

The increased frequency of damp air and with it precipitation is welcomed across Canada's prairie provinces. It really is to late to solve the problems in Alberta with pasture land but here in Saskatchewan these rains will produce a crop, likely a good crop this year and even pastures are starting to show signs of recovery. Sunday afternoon we had the delight of hearing the clap of thunder as a train of clouds rolled past the North side of town on their way to Nipawin and beyond to dump a good deal of rain to the North of us. We even had the spectacle of tapioca hail splatter on the South side of town as the system passed yet less than a quarter mile away the shower and hail missed our rain gauge entirely. The little QuickTime VR below shows the sort of weather system that was hustling by while the clouds in the image at the top of the page shows what was left afterward about an hour later. While driving to la Ronge our trusty Ensign reporter told us that it rained steadily from Melfort to Prince Albert in the late afternoon, so much so that traffic was almost stopped in the Birchhills area during the storm's passage and from six-thirty onward there was steady rain from Prince Albert to la Ronge and even light rain this morning. This rain will save millions in fire fighting bills. This morning we are covered now with low cumulus cloud and expect rain this afternoon. The odd thing is the very high winds we are getting from the West Southwest. If these switch around to the East things will get wet.