Environment Canada confirms 3 tornadoes in Sask. Tuesday night

Environment Canada has confirmed that at least three tornados touched down in the Kindersley to Rosetown area on Tuesday. The investigation is not yet complete, so there may still be more to report. 

Strong thunderstorms were active in western parts of the province Tuesday. 

Hail the size of golf balls was hitting an area 15 km southeast of Goodsoil, while hail as large as ping pong balls was coming down in Rosetown, according to Environment Canada.

Dustin Rieger has a farm near D'Arcy, Sask., about 150 kilometres southwest of Saskatoon. He was coming home from work when he saw a small tornado touch down.

"We're fortunate. When it comes to our horse pasture, [the storm] broke a wire and a post and then cleaned off a section of my brother-in-law's lentil crop," he said Wednesday.

The tornado didn't damage his property, but it got close enough that he called family on the way home to tell them about it. 

"It was probably 500 to 1,000 yards away... so, close enough. I wouldn't want it any closer," he said.

His neighbours sustained some damage in the storm as well.

Marc Guindon was on his way back to Saskatoon from Kananaskis when he and his friends got an emergency alert on their phones. They were just outside of Rosetown, Sask.

"As soon as we pulled over, it had already touched ground. The funnel cloud started, then it kind of went sideways and then it touched ground," he said.

The tornado was thin and white and curved on its way down. In weather circles, it's known as a rope tornado. 

"The [tornadoes] that we saw in Saskatchewan yesterday were ropey to begin with and were still ropey at the end," Natalie Hasell, warning and preparedness meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said. 

Just because a tornado is thin doesn't mean it's not powerful, she said. 

"It could still cause significant damage if it hit something."

The area where the tornados were has a lot of open space, she added.

Hasell said the best thing you can do is be prepared with an emergency plan for weather. If you don't have a basement, take shelter in a place with no windows during a tornado. 

Anyone with information on the storm or other tornadoes is asked to email Environment Canada at skstorm@canada.ca.

Other parts of the province sustained storm weather too. Prince Albert police were warning of downed trees and power line damage due to the storm.

On Wednesday, Environment Canada reported peak wind gusts of 96 km/h near Prince Albert, 87 km/h in Mankota, 85 km/h in Prince Albert and 80 km/h in Moose Jaw.