Two more tornadoes have been confirmed in Manitoba this summer. The Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP), a research initiative based at Western University, said the two additional tornadoes touched down during a storm on Aug. 30. It brought the province’s 2026 total to 17, one shy of the provincial record. One of the newly confirmed tornadoes, near Blue Lakes in Duck Mountain Provincial Park, was rated an EF-1 with estimated maximum wind speeds of 145 km/h. It caused roof damage to a store and moved heavy items, including an air conditioning unit and a small shed, at the nearby Blue Lakes Campground, according to the NTP. The second happened a few kilometres from the Saskatchewan border near the southwestern community of Kola. It was rated EF-0. Satellite imagery showed a narrow path of crop damage north of the community, the NTP said. The strongest tornado so far this year in Manitoba was an EF-3 that touched down southwest of Rossburn on June 28. It caused significant damage to a home, barn, outbuildings and trees. The NTP estimated the tornado’s maximum wind speed at 230 km/h. With the latest two confirmations, Manitoba’s 2026 tornado count sits at 17, one shy of 1991’s record 18 confirmed twisters, according to Brian Proctor, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada. “It was a very active year, and it was really approaching the numbers of 1991, which is a very active year when we look back at the period of record.” Proctor said this year’s active season came down to three main factors: abundant moisture, significant heat, and a jet stream positioned directly over southern Manitoba for much of the summer. “Moisture for a thunderstorm or for a tornado is gasoline. Without moisture, we can’t do anything,” he said. “The jet stream was right across southern Manitoba, and so what the jet does is it really provides the necessary wind shear to sustain these mesocyclones, these rotating thunderstorms.” “We do think we’re going to see more high-impact weather, more fluctuations,” Proctor said, adding the trend aligns with projections from climate models. Proctor said Environment and Climate Change Canada does not independently verify tornado counts, relying instead on the NTP through a memorandum of understanding between the two organizations. “They have the sort of experts on structural damage and assessing damage that has occurred from tornadoes and ranking the strength of those tornadoes,” he said. However, comparing this year’s total to historical records is complicated, Proctor said, in part because tracking methodology has changed over time and because detection has improved significantly. Proctor said Manitoba has basic tornado data going back to about 1980. Earlier reports exist, he said, but “nothing that sort of really holds up to scrutiny of examination.” “Now, as we’ve moved into the new decades... we’ve got these really smart sorts of systems around us,” he said. “We’ve got our smartphones, we’ve got all these cameras, we’ve got radar data. We’re getting more and more reports.”
