A tornado that touched down in east-central Alberta late last week was the strongest one to hit the province so far this year and the third on the Canadian Prairies classified as EF3 on a scale used to indicate their severity. The Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP), based at Western University in London, Ont., tagged the twister that hit the Tulliby Lake area late Saturday afternoon as EF3 on the Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale, a measuring system that rates tornado intensity using wind speed, damage indicators and degrees of damage. NTP has also documented EF3 tornadoes this year in Oxbow, Sask., on June 9 and Rossburn, Man., on June 28. “All (are) different events in different provinces, which is noteworthy,” project members wrote Wednesday in a blog post. No injuries were reported at Tulliby Lake. By comparison, the deadly 1987 Edmonton tornado that killed 27 people reached 4 on the Fujita scale. Members of the project documented significant damage to one property in the Tulliby Lake area, with footage taken on the ground and by drone showing a destroyed house, turned-over trailer and several felled trees. NTP also received reports of damage at several other properties near the hamlet, which is 221 kilometres east of Edmonton. NTP said the tornado’s estimated maximum wind speed was 230 kilometres per hour and that it travelled 17.8 kilometres along the ground. So far this year, 24 confirmed tornadoes have touched down in Alberta. The province averages 11 a year.
