Today (Friday) has been an active day across parts of Saskatchewan as expected. Tornado warnings have been numerous across west-central SK with cold-core action, and across eastern Saskatchewan in the warm sector. The radar image below shows the supercell that has been tornado warned. It's unfortunate that I could not convince anyone to make the 27 hour drive, or we'd be driving through this tornado right now and rolling in a canola field.

A textbook trough with embedded shortwave trough will traverse the Canadian Prairies on Friday, August 11, yielding favorable CAPE and shear for tornadic supercells over southeast Saskatchewan. Substantially directional and speed shear will prevail where the mid-level jet streak and low-level jet coincide. CAPE values of 3000 J/kg and greater will also develop by mid-late afternoon, setting the stage for potentially explosive supercell development. I (Reed) attempted to find someone to accompany me on the 27 hour drive to my target area in Saskatchewan, but failed to do so. I am very tempted to fly solo on this chase, but it could be physically impossible to endure a 27 hour drive followed by a 4-6 hour stormchase without sleep. Updates will follow as this event unfolds, and if a tornado outbreak occurs, Joel's profile may be deleted from this site, as his stormchasing range is in question!

As seen above, a 50 knot mid-level jet streak will be superimposed on a 30-40 knot low-level jet and 3000+ J/kg CAPE axis. I should have left Wednesday.

An incredible supercell has been churning across the high plains of Alberta today (Thursday) for the last few hours. Definitely a sign of things to come tomorrow. It appears that additional supercells may form along a line south of this monster as well. This storm also has split twice, confirming its supercell characteristics, and likely has baseball or larger hailstones.