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A widespread risk of severe thunderstorms is in place for today across Central and Southern Alberta, with the threat of a tornado in parts of Southern Alberta.

Thunderstorm activity will kick off in the early to mid-afternoon through a large stretch of the Foothills, particularly in Central Alberta. These will be slow-moving storms that are expected to develop from the Calgary area to Grande Prairie and could have the potential to bring golf ball-sized hail and strong wind gusts to the region. These storms are also expected to have plenty of precipitation associated with them, which could result in some localized flooding before the storms taper off in the late evening.

There is the chance for storms to also pop up around Calgary and to the south at the same time, but these storms should be slightly weaker and could be short-lived. This will then be followed by some weak storms that will cross into the area from British Columbia in the late afternoon and early evening.

Storms in this second wave are expected to rapidly intensify into supercell thunderstorms as they track east of the Rockies, with the potential to hit the area with damaging wind gusts in excess of 100km/h and hail larger than golf balls. There is also the risk of a tornado or two developing to the south and southeast of Calgary, in an area that includes High River, Claresholm, Lethbridge, and Taber.

The storms in Southern Alberta will track much further east than those expected in Central Alberta earlier in the day. They will likely continue moving eastward towards Saskatchewan overnight, but are expected to lose some intensity during that time period.