Winnipeg cellphone users scratch their heads over tornado alert

Winnipeggers may have received a tornado alert on their phones on Monday — some repeatedly — but it wasn’t for them and they were never in any danger.

While the Environment Canada emergency alert popped up on the cellphones of many Winnipeggers at about 6:30 p.m. — urging them to “take immediate cover in a basement or interior room if weather threat approaches” — it was intended for residents in the Rural Municipality of MacDonald, southwest of the city. Some of its communities include Oak Bluff, La Salle, Brunkild and Starbuck.

Environment and Climate Change Canada meteorologist Crawford Luke said the alert was sent out when radar screens showed tornado conditions over the municipality.

“The radar looked really good (for a tornado), but we haven’t received any reports of damage,” Luke said on Monday.

“A few storm watchers saw some rotation in the clouds, and a funnel cloud was spotted by someone at the airport, but to our knowledge, neither a tornado or funnel cloud did any damage.”

An employee at the municipality confirmed no tornado touched down in the area.

As to why Winnipeggers also received the alert, when they weren’t in danger, Erik de Groot, national program and business development associate director of the Meteorological Service of Canada, said it is because of the locations of cell towers.

“The AlertReady system triggers any wireless towers that serve the zone, under an alert, including those that are outside the alert zone on the edge,” de Groot said.

“Near the edges, and even outside of the alert zone, those towers also will be serving areas outside the alert zone. Wireless devices are not aware if they are inside the alert. They receive the alert from the tower and then sound the alert. So it is possible that a user is outside the alert zone, but connected to a tower (serving) the alert zone.

“Experience has shown this can be 20 (to) 40 kilometres or more. It really depends on the tower.”

While some Winnipeggers on social media said they received upwards of five alert messages for the one event, de Groot said people should only receive one alert.

“There may be multiple updates to an alert message, but the phone knows it already received it and will not ‘beep’ again,” he said.

“It may be possible that people have different applications that are providing different alerts or ‘beeping’ on any updates.”

Bell MTS spokeswoman Jessica Benzinger said it, as the cellphone service provider, does not control the content, timing or frequency of emergency alerts or who gets them.

“These alerts are issued by authorized government agencies like Environment and Climate Change Canada through Canada’s public alerting system,” Benzinger said.

“Bell’s role is to provide the wireless network that enables alerts to reach compatible devices in the affected area. The messages pass through our network, but we do not control what’s sent, how often, or to whom. Factors like location, device settings, and potential re-transmissions, from the alerting authority, may explain why some customers received multiple alerts.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca