EF-1 tornado confirmed in New Brunswick

Dark clouds in New Brunswick

Wednesday, July 24, 2013, 4:57 PM -

A storm that uprooted trees and damaged buildings in New Brunswick's Grand Lake area Saturday evening, was, in fact, a tornado.

Environment Canada made the confirmation Wednesday afternoon. A survey team visited the area on Monday.

While tornadoes in New Brunswick are rare, the province is no stranger to twisters, says Weather Network meteorologist Dayna Vettese.

"Over the course of recorded history, New Brunswick has had many tornadoes with quite a few F2's [a tornado with wind speeds between 181 km-253 km/h] confirmed."

The last time the province saw a tornado was on August 3, 2007 in White Rapids. The F2 twister damaged several farm buildings.

"The strongest tornado in New Brunswick dates back to the late 1800s," Vettese says.

"An F3 hit Bouctouche on August 6 of that year, destroying or damaging as many as 50 structures and killing 7 people."