The Springbank Airshow was cancelled due to high winds as a line of severe thunderstorms rolled through southern Alberta on Saturday afternoon.

"As safety is paramount to the Wings Over Springbank Airshow, today's performance has been cancelled due to high winds. Sunday's show is still scheduled to resume tomorrow — general admission tickets from today will be honoured tomorrow," the airshow wrote in an emailed statement.

Spectators at the airshow spontaneously banded together to help protect a flying replica of the Avro Arrow from blowing away when the wind first started to pick up around 2:30 p.m. Saturday, according to show attendee and Calgary photographer Debra Smith.

Spectators at the Wings over Springbank show protect an Avro Arrow replica from blowing away in high winds. The flying replica is made of carbon fibre, an extremely strong, light-weight material. (Debra Smith)

"The way they had parked the planes, the wind was coming across the plane. So it was really pushing on it and when the winds picked up, people just got together and they grabbed onto the plane to make sure it didn't take off," said Smith.

Storms heading eastbound

Environment Canada warned the thunderstorms, stretching from just north of Red Deer to Calgary, were headed east.

The agency issued a warning at 2:15 p.m. that the storms could bring nickel-sized hail, heavy rain and wind gusts of over 90 km/h. That warning was downgraded to a watch at 3 p.m., and cancelled after 4 p.m.

The warning comes as thousands of Calgarians are outside enjoying the Calgary Folk Festival at Prince's Island Park.

Severe storm warnings were also issued for Rocky View County, Mountain View County, Kneehill County, Wheatland County, Vulcan County, Drumheller and Red Deer.

"Take cover immediately if threatening weather approaches," the agency cautioned.

Strong winds stoke southeast wildfire

The storms prompted an information alert for strong winds in Cypress County.

Winds of over 100 km/h were expected to arrive between 4:30 and 5 p.m., according to Alberta Emergency Alert.

The winds could be stoking a wildfire in the area, south of Highway 1 and west of Graburn Road.

"As a result of smoke and high wind velocities, visibility in this area is reduced," the wildfire alert cautioned.

An up to date list of weather warnings is available on the Environment Canada website.