Weyburn is cleaning up, along with the rest of the province, after severe thunderstorms raced from west to east Tuesday night. The storms brought heavy rain, intense lightning, hail, and at least four confirmed tornadoes.

The storms came from a system which started out in Alberta and moved into Saskatchewan.

“Quite a bit of severe weather over in the southwestern part of the province, and it tended to weaken out a little bit as it moved eastward through the night, but there were a few reports of tornadoes in the southwest last night as well as some very large hail,” explained Mark Melness with Environment Canada.

Baseball-sized hail was reported near Val Marie, which is also where one of the four confirmed tornadoes touched down. The other confirmed tornadoes were reported near Wood Mountain and Golden Prairie. There are also unconfirmed reports of tornadoes touching down in the southeast, including near Minton, Tribune and on Ocean Man First Nation.

Here in Weyburn, the intense lightning was responsible for at least one tree catching on fire, after a direct hit. The flashes illuminated the sky for hours, often with the roar of the thunder coming immediately afterwards.

High winds also causing damage across the region. The winds knocked down tree branches in Weyburn itself and were also responsible for damage to power lines throughout the province. Parts of Weyburn were without power for part of the night. Areas outside the city which were without power for extended periods include Bengough and Fox Valley.

Weyburn Fire Chief Simon Almond said the Fire department only received four calls during the storm that were related to the storm, and those were all wires touching trees creating sparks, which only happens if they get wet.

In such instances, the firefighters remain on hand to prevent the fires from spreading.

With the storms passed, temperatures are expected to drop to normal for this time of year as things cool off slightly. Sunshine will also dominate the skies. Things won’t be expected to warm back up until the weekend.