6 tornadoes swept through Alberta’s Peace region last week, researchers say
A tornado that left the northwestern Alberta village of Girouxville with damaged roofs and uprooted trees last week was one of six identified in the region, according to the Northern Tornado Project.
NTP, a Western University-based project focused on monitoring weather conditions, deployed a team to the region to take drone footage and assess damage last week.
They found that the Girouxville tornado on June 15, which caused the most damage, was categorized as an EF2 tornado – meaning that it was considered strong with an estimated maximum wind speed of 190 km/h.
“Basically 100 per cent of the trees, almost, were snapped along the path where it went through on its way to Girouxville. Thankfully, the tornado intensity turned down a notch before it got to town,” NTP director Dave Sills said.
The village of Girouxville is located about 55 kilometres south of the town of Peace River and about 440 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.
Sills said the last time a tornado of that scale passed through the region was in the town of Grimshaw in 2003.
A tornado outbreak
NTP also recorded a separate EF1 tornado with an estimated maximum wind speed of 150 km/h later that evening southwest of Girouxville, near the hamlet of Enilda.
Other EF0 – typically 90-130 km/h – tornadoes were found near Hines Creek, Nampa and Falher. An EF0-default tornado, meaning no damage was reported with estimated winds reaching 90 kilometres per hour, was also confirmed in McLennan.
Regional map showing the locations and ratings for the six tornadoes in northwestern Alberta on June 15. (Northern Tornado Project)
They say the first tornado began at just after 5 p.m. in Hines Creek with the last one starting at around 9:42 p.m in Enilda.
Sills said the quantity of tornadoes is unusual for the region.
“The threshold for calling it an ‘outbreak’ across Canada is six tornadoes. So officially a ‘tornado outbreak’ in [the] Peace Country,” Sills said, noting that he isn’t aware of any other outbreaks in the region in past years.
These six tornadoes bring the total number of Alberta tornadoes to 19 this year.
Clean up continuing, Girouxville mayor says
Girouxville Mayor Joseph Zdeb said he was surprised at the number of tornadoes reported, and hadn’t experienced anything like this in his 13 years in the village.
“I’m originally from the Midwest in the States, so I’m familiar with tornadoes and the aftermath and that kind of thing. I never expected it to actually be in Girouxville – it was really shocking,” Zdeb said.
Zdeb said the community rallied together to clean-up in the immediate aftermath, sawing uprooted trees, removing debris and water proofing damaged roofs.
Girouxville residents hoisting a chunk of an uprooted tree out of the cemetery on the morning of June 16. (Eagle Andersen/CBC)
Zdeb said the community campground remains closed due to potentially dangerous trees.
He said some residents are awaiting inspections from assessments from insurance adjusters before they can move ahead with permanent repairs.
“That’s actually slowed down the glass and roof repairs for some residents … it’s been slow going,” Zdeb said.
Zdeb said he’d like to see better communication about potential severe weather events, noting that no weather alert was issued prior to last week’s twister.
“Of course there was severe damage to multiple residences, but no one was [badly] injured, no houses were fully lost. We were very lucky this time,” Zdeb said.
This article, written by Eagle Andersen, was originally published for CBC News.