A new, more precise storm warning system could reduce alert fatigue for Manitobans by sending tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings only to areas most likely to be affected. Pictured, Environment and Climate Change Canada issued the country’s first storm-based polygon warning in Alberta on Tuesday.Environment and Climate Change Canada

Canada’s new, more targeted severe weather warning system launched this week, replacing broad, region-based warnings for tornadoes and severe thunderstorms with free-form polygons drawn around the area most likely to be affected by an individual storm.

Justin Oertel of The Weather Centre of Manitoba said the change should help reduce the number of people receiving warnings for storms that ultimately do not affect them.

“It will help people take warnings seriously,” Oertel said.

Under the previous system, warnings were often issued for large predefined areas that could include communities well outside a storm’s projected path. Oertel said that could contribute to warning fatigue when people repeatedly received alerts without experiencing any impacts.

The new system is intended to narrow the warning area to places with a high likelihood of experiencing disruptive impacts from a severe thunderstorm or tornado.

“It should help alleviate the warning fatigue by reducing the likelihood of someone receiving an alert and not experiencing storm impacts,” Oertel said.

The change applies only to tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings. Other weather alerts will continue to use existing zone-based warning areas.

The new warnings can also provide more storm-specific information, including the storm’s speed and direction, its approximate location and when its position was last updated by a forecaster.

Oertel cautioned that the system will not eliminate alerts for everyone outside a warning polygon.

“Unfortunately some people outside of a warning polygon may still receive cell phone alerts to their phone due to their phone being connected to a cell phone tower within a polygon,” Oertel said.

He expects the number of people receiving warnings outside the storm’s actual threat area to be significantly reduced.

“We don’t want to be having people 100 km away from the storm, especially if it’s moving away from them, receiving an alert,” he said.

By Steven Sukkau, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Original Published on Aug 12, 2026 at 10:51

This item reprinted with permission from    The Sun    Winnipeg, Manitoba
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