Three tornadoes from storm confirmed

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This article was published 27/06/2023 (897 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BRANDON — Three tornadoes touched down in western Manitoba on June 20, according to preliminary findings from a research team from Western University.

The first tornado touched down near East Boundary Lake in William Lake Provincial Park, near the U.S. border. The second was northwest of Killarney, the report from the Northern Tornado Project states. The third touched down northeast of MacGregor.

The project, founded in 2017, partners with groups such as Environment and Climate Change Canada to better understand the effects of severe and extreme weather.

The tornadoes have been initially classed as EF1, the second-lowest rating on a scale that goes from EF0 to EF5. The higher the rating, the more severe the tornado. An EF0 tornado starts at 90 km/h, while an EF5 is beyond 300 km/h.

The tornado at East Boundary Lake is believed to have started at 9:35 p.m. about 100 metres south of the U.S. border before moving north, the report states. Using a drone, a research team was able to determine the tornado left a track estimated to be 6.5 km long and as wide as 210 metres.

The maximum wind speed is believed to have been about 145 km/h.

The Killarney tornado, which touched down 20 minutes later, is estimated to have left a track 17.5 km long and up to 1.2 km wide. The wind speed is believed to have been as high as 155 km/h.

Aerial images from the drone show trees felled by the first tornado and a farm damaged by the second.

The MacGregor tornado touched down at 11:30 p.m. and damaged trees and grain bins at a farm. It left a track approximately 3 km long and up to 800 metres wide. It had an estimated top wind speed of 135 km/h.

Downburst damage — wind blowing in a straight line rather than the cyclical pattern of a tornado — was also reported.

An EF0 landspout tornado was reported to have touched down northwest of Carberry on June 4. The project did not dispatch a team in that case because no damage was reported.

Northern Tornado Project executive director David Sills said the project has several teams that cover the entire country. In the case of the East Boundary Lake tornado, representatives are collaborating with the National Weather Service in Bismarck, N.D.

“With the new radars in the U.S. and Canada, you can actually see when debris is launched in the air by a tornado,” he said by phone from London, Ont. “With the one at William Lake, we noticed that there was this debris that was detected in the air, so we knew there was a tornado there.”

Environment Canada warning preparedness meteorologist Natalie Hasell confirmed her organization has the project’s report. Manitoba receives eight to 12 confirmed reports of tornadoes in a typical year, Hasell said.

“We are getting to the time of year which is the typical peak for thunderstorms and severe weather,” she said. “Thunderstorms, heat, poor air quality.”

— the Brandon Sun