Twenty record highs were set in Alberta on Thursday. That includes both the Edmonton Blatchford weather station and the station at Edmonton International Airport. Blatchford hit 32.7 C, breaking the old record of 32.2 C set in 1936. 32.7 C also appears to be the third-hottest May temperature on record. EIA’s high of 32.8 C also breaks the old record of 31.1 C set in 1986. We’ll post the full list of records below, but first let’s deal with the tornadoes from earlier in the week. Severe thunderstorms last Monday produced two tornadoes at Atmore and Avenir in northern Alberta. Those communities are about 200 km northeast of Edmonton (near Plamondon). The Northern Tornadoes Project did on-site storm assessments and has determined the tornado near Atmore at 7 p.m. had an estimated wind speed of 175 km/h. There was some damage to a few homes and the preliminary rating is EF1. At 7:25 p.m., a tornado near Avenir did some damage to trees in the area and has a preliminary rating of EF1. There are no tornado reports from the severe storms that hit Alberta on Thursday evening, although there are reports of wind damage from gusts in the 60 to 100 km/h range. Some of the strongest gusts were reported at the Edmonton International Airport. That area had gusts in the 115-130 km/h range. Those storms came on the heels of Thursday’s record-setting heat. Here’s a full list of the new record highs courtesy Environment & Climate Change Canada: Athabasca area Bow Island area Bow Valley (provincial park) area Calgary area Claresholm area Edmonton International Airport area Edmonton area Fort Chipewyan area High Level area Lacombe area Mildred Lake area Milk River area Peace River area Pincher Creek area Red Deer area Red Earth Creek area Rocky Mountain House area Stony Plain area Sundre area Wainwright area
