Here’s how strong the tornado was over the weekend in Alberta
A violent tornado that touched down in central Alberta this weekend will receive an EF4 rating, researchers say.
The tornado caused a 9-mile stretch of damage between Didsbury and Carstairs in central Alberta, a 45-minute drive north of Calgary. The storm damaged 12 homes, including three that were destroyed, and left one person with minor injuries.
That result is very fortunate given the danger of the tornado, says a scientist with Western University’s Northern Tornadoes Project. Experts from the team on site to assess the damage and rate the intensity of the tornado.
“If you think about this tornado and how close it was to Calgary, this could have been so much worse,” said David Sills, executive director of the Northern Tornadoes Project.
“Even if it had gone straight through Didsbury or Carstairs, communities on either side of its path, it would have been a devastating tornado. Fortunately, it just went through a more rural area.”
The Northern Tornadoes Project conducted a survey of the damage using ground crews and drones, along with Canada’s Prairie and Arctic Storm Prediction Center for Environment and Climate Change. The maximum wind speed was 275 km/h, they determined.
Sills said Saturday’s Alberta tornado was the strongest since 1987, when the “Black Friday” twister hit Edmonton and killed 27 people.
“From the first images we saw coming out … we knew it was a really high-end tornado,” Sills said.
The only other EF4 tornado struck Alonsa, Man., in 2018, killing one person.
The current system used to rate the intensity of high wind damage, the “Enhanced Fujita” or EF scale, was adopted in Canada in 2013. on a 4 or 5.
The team visiting the site found that a combine harvester weighing nearly 10,000 kg was picked up and tossed by the wind for more than 50 metres, then rolled for a further 50 metres.
“When you take that kind of damage, you know you’re dealing with a really high-end tornado,” says Sills.