Severe weather watches/warnings end

The long weekend is off to a weird weather start as tornado warnings, reports of hail, strong winds, black clouds and orange-coloured lightning had people running for cover.

Severe thunderstorm watches and warnings have now been dropped for Calgary and surrounding areas including Cochrane, Big Hill Springs Provincial Park, Madden, Ghost River and Waiparous areas.

Several storms continue to churn across the prairies eastward.

Earlier Friday afternoon, a tornado did touch down 25 kilometres west-northwest of Sundre.

RCMP say the area that the Sundre twister touched down in is sparsely populated and there are no reports of injuries or property damage.

One driver called the 660 newsroom to report that rain and hail were so heavy, it was actually shattering windshields and other motorists were turning around to avoid the tornado-like conditions.

Richard Benoit was camping near Sundre and told CTV, the storm left almost as soon as it blew in with marble-sized hail so intense it shattered some vents in his camper, damaged several gazebos and covered his lawn like snow and left large puddles.

In addition, the Calgary Airport had to delay some flights due to lightning.