Tornado chasing goes live on evening news

Television viewers in Saskatchewan looking for updates on severe weather in the province may have witnessed a tornado on their screens, live on the CBC evening news.

Just as CBC weather specialist Jamie Maraucher was introducing a segment on storm chasers looking for twisters in Saskatchewan, a live image of a possible tornado whipped across the screen.

The video, from the Moose Jaw area in southwest Saskatchewan, was part of a continuous feed generated by a group of storm chasers.

Greg Johnson, a Regina-based storm chaser looking to track down severe weather, was in the group.

While there was no immediate confirmation of a tornado sighting by Environment Canada officials, there was no doubt in Johnson's mind what he witnessed.

"We saw great visible rapidly rotating wall of cloud," he said. "[A] broad funnel that changed shape several times. We saw a classic cone.  We saw a stovepipe there."

Just as quickly as the excitement arrived, it was gone.

Within about an hour, Environment Canada issued an update on the status of severe weather and said tornado warnings had ended.

However, thunderstorms and heavy rain were still in the forecast.