Warnings issued as tornadoes are spotted in southwestern Manitoba

Environment Canada issued a series oftornado warnings Wednesday afternoon and into the evening, alerting people to what it callsa "dangerous and potentially life-threatening situation" for parts of southern Manitoba.

The affected areas covered a swath from the Saskatchewan boundary northwest of Brandon, moving southeast down to the U.S. border near Emerson.

Meteorologists with Environment Canada were tracking a thunderstorm north of La Riviere that had already produced tornadoes northwest of Brandon and was moving southeast at 30 km/h.

Damaging winds, hail ranging in size from nickels to golf balls and locally intense rainfall are also possible, the weather agency said in an alert Wednesday evening.

As of 9:30 p.m, all previous tornado warnings issued by Environment Canada, as well as a slew of severe thunderstorm warnings and watches, had expired, but were replaced by a pair of new tornado warnings covering the municipalities of Whitehead (including Alexander and Beresford) and Riversdale (including Rivers and Wheatland).