The time of year between late June and the middle of July is the statistical peak of severe thunderstorm activity in southern Manitoba.

That according to Natalie Hasell of Environment Canada. She says there have been many reports of large hail, heavy downpours, and tree damage caused by winds in the last few weeks in Manitoba. She notes there are four conditions that need to line up for thunderstorms to occur: high moisture from lakes, rivers, agriculture, or the Gulf of Mexico, an unstable local atmosphere, a trigger causing a vertical motion of air, such as daytime heat or a cold front, and a wind shear.

"In some circumstances we are pretty sure that these four elements are going to come together, but if they don't come together just right you might have thunderstorms just not severe ones, you might only get stuff that gives you a few showers and nothing else or the storms are really quite large, violent, sometimes quite fast moving."

Hasell says the conditions can change day to day so it is important to check local forecasts regularly. She notes there is also a risk of a tornado in every thunderstorm but they are rare and there are tornado warnings issued when the conditions line up.

"We can have severe weather, large hail, torrential downpour, strong straight line winds, we get those far more often then we get tornadoes and they affect a much larger area than tornadoes do. Even non-severe thunderstorms should be treated as hazardous. People are injured more by lightening then any of the other severe summer weather combined."

Hasell says we can expect more thunderstorms and rain in the near future.