Prairies first tornado of the season confirmed

Thursday, April 14, 2016, 4:52 PM - Alberta's first tornado of the season touched down east of Calgary, Alberta Wednesday, Environment Canada has confirmed.

The EF-0 twister occurred near the intersection of Highway 1 and Stoney Trail around 3:50 p.m. local time. The length and width of the tornado remain undetermined, the weather agency adds. No damage was reported.

Calgary resident Sherwin Moseley managed to capture the twister on his way home from work near Chestermere. The video above shows the landspout making contact with the ground at the corner of 83 Street and 17 Avenue near the East Hills shopping centre.

In addition, two dust devils were also confirmed -- the first at around 1:45 p.m. MDT near Balzac and the other at approximately 5:50 p.m. MDT near Arrowwood.

NOW ON YOUTUBE: Subscribe to The Weather Network's YouTube channel for access to the best weather-related videos in Canada VIEW THE CHANNEL | VIEWER VIDEOS | POPULAR NOW | SUBSCRIBE

This comes days after flight dispatcher for WestJet Matt Norton captured (below) a gigantic dust devil in Airdrie, Alberta.

Though often compared to tornadoes, dust devils are typically harmless, and are actually a totally different phenomenon.

Both require wind shear -- winds blowing in different directions at different levels in the atmosphere, inducing spinning -- but tornadoes are always attached to the bottom of severe thunderstorms. They feature winds with gusts of hundreds of kilometres an hour and are some of nature's most destructive forces.

Dust devils, by contrast, are not formed by thunderstorms, but rather require air rising rapidly from the warm ground.

While it looks scary, and anyone standing under one would be buffeted by the winds, they are nowhere near as powerful as tornadoes. While tornadoes can cause severe property damage, even rip a house off its foundations, dust devils are typically only strong enough to move small objects, though they have been known to lift lightweight sheds.

Alberta typically has 15 tornadoes each year in a season that runs from April to September.

With files from Daniel Martins

Watch more: Meteorology Minute - Surving a tornado