Mannville Farmer Troy Bader was only a half mile away from the landspout tornado when it touched down on his land on June 9.
“It was in the field and thankfully it didn’t do much damage. It was very stagnant; it sat on top of the hill for ages and it didn’t move. It looked like an oversized dust devil,” said Bader, who was sitting in his truck ready to take off in case it moved in his direction.
Bader said it lasted for 15 minutes in total.
“It sucked up all sorts of dust and that’s why it looked so dark. The clouds above us were very dark and it looked like something was going to happen. The pictures that were taken 7 miles away looked bigger. When the rain started it covered it up and we couldn’t see it anymore,” added Bader.
It is not easy to measure wind speed in a tornado because a tornado usually destroys local measuring equipment, and also because tornadoes only exist for a short time at random places and they are gone before meteorologists can study them.
Environment Canada confirmed it was a landspout tornado afterwards. Many social media posts showed photos of the landspout tornado near Mannville.
According to Environment Canada’s website funnel clouds, which usually appear with little or no warning, should be treated seriously, and nearby residents should be prepared to take shelter.
Funnel clouds are generated by weak rotation under rapidly growing clouds of weak thunderstorms. They do not normally pose a danger near the ground, however there is a chance they could intensify and become a weak landspout tornado.
Wind speed is usually measured by a device called an anemometer, which has cups that spin around a vertical axis in the wind (the Beaufort wind scale rates, on a scale of 1 to 12, how strong the wind is).
Tornadoes are classified into five categories, F-0 through F-5. F-0 tornadoes are the mildest. F-5 tornadoes are the most dangerous (and the rarest).
F-0 40-72 mph, Light damage, chimney damage, tree branches broken.
F-1 73-112 mph, Moderate damage, mobile homes pushed off foundation or flipped over.
F-2 113-157 mph, Considerable damage, mobile homes demolished, trees uprooted.
F-3 158-205 mph, Severe damage, roofs and walls torn down, trains overturned, cars thrown around.
F-4 207-260 mph, Devastating damage, well-constructed walls leveled
F-5 261-318 mph, Violent damage, homes lifted off foundation and carried considerable distances, autos thrown as far as 100 meters.