Outstanding Prairie May and June Events
May 2023 was a busy time for NTP with two major conferences and two weeks of intern training. So we are late getting some events from May and early June published on the blog. And all of the activity then was confined to the Prairie provinces.
So below are confirmed tornado and downburst events that are new for the NTP blog in 2023.
Note that two events - the May 11 Cayley, AB tornado and the June 4 Carberry, MB tornado - are new confirmations that are being announced by NTP for the first time here. And the confirmations are the result of an important change to way that NTP confirms landspout tornadoes. More on that in another blog post!
Event summaries and a map are provided below.
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Event Name: Cayley, AB
Date: May 11, 2023
Start Time: 6:07 PM MDT (0007 UTC)
Final Classification: Tornado (Over Land)
Final EF-Scale Rating: EF0-Default
Estimated tornado location: 50.42N, 113.85W
Description: Witness captured video of a landspout tornado near Cayley. As no damage was reported and satellite imagery review revealed no visible damage, the EF-Scale assessment is EF0-Default. Information available insufficient to accurately estimate track length, max. path width and tornado motion.
Event Name: Rowatt, SK
Date: May 27, 2023
Start Time: 8:52 PM CST (0252 UTC)
Final Classification: Tornado (Over Land)
Final EF-Scale Rating: EF1
EF-Scale Damage Indicator / Degree of Damage: SBO/DOD-5
Start of damage track: 50.3553N, 104.5535W
End of damage track: 50.3604N, 104.5508W
Location of worst damage: 50.3561N, 104.5531W
Description: Witnesses in southern Regina captured video and photos of a tornado near Rowatt. No injuries were reported. Structural damage was reported at a farm property in the area and was surveyed by an NTP team on May 29, 2023. Roof damage to a large machine shed was rated EF1, with an estimated max. wind speed of 150 km/h. Results of drone imagery analysis revealed a damage track 600 m long and 200 m wide. Tornado motion was from the SSW (approx. 200 degrees). The survey team documented debris that was blown up to 2.5 km NNE of the damage site, however no other signs of damage to crops or other properties was found. Satellite imagery review did not reveal any signs of a damage path.
Event Name: Jameson, SK
Date: May 28, 2023
Time: 1:30 AM CST (0730 UTC)
Final Classification: Downburst (Microburst)
Final EF-Scale Rating: EF0
EF-Scale Damage Indicator / Degree of Damage: FR12/DOD-2
Location of worst damage: 50.4128N, 104.2829W
Description: Roof damage to a home was reported in the Jameson area after a storm passed through in the overnight hours. No injuries were reported. An NTP ground and drone survey was completed in the area on May 30, 2023, documenting the structural damage along with minor tree damage in the vicinity. Damage assessed as EF0 downburst (microburst), with an estimated max. wind speed of 125 km/h. Satellite imagery review revealed no visible damage.
Event Name: Botha, AB
Date: May 31, 2023
Start Time: 4:35 PM MDT (2235 UTC)
Final Classification: Tornado (Over Land)
Final EF-Scale Rating: EF0-Default
Start of tornado track: 52.3486N, 112.5536W
End of tornado track: 52.3633N, 112.5361W
Description: Witnesses captured video and photos of a tornado north of Botha (northeast of Stettler). No damage was reported. Satellite imagery review did reveal a visible path through cropland, impacting no damage indicators. Damage assessed as EF0 (default) tornado, track length of 2.33 km and max. path width of 240 m. The first half of the visible path reveals tornado motion from the S (approx. 190 degrees) before shifting directions to motion from the WSW (approx. 245 degrees) for the remainder of the path. Average tornado motion was from the SW (approx. 225 degrees).
Event Name: Carberry, MB
Date: June 4, 2023
Start Time: 2:53 PM CDT (1953 UTC)
Final Classification: Tornado (Over Land)
Final EF-Scale Rating: EF0-Default
Start of tornado track: 49.8844N, 99.3714W
End of tornado track: 44.8806N, 99.3736W
Description: Witnesses captured video of a landspout tornado near Carberry. No damage was reported. Satellite imagery review did reveal a short visible path through cropland, impacting no damage indicators. Damage assessed as EF0 (default) tornado, track length of 460 m and max. path width of 70 m. Tornado motion was from the NNE (approx. 20 degrees).
Event Name: Peerless, SK
Date: June 5, 2023
Time: 5:55 PM CST (2355 UTC)
Final Classification: Downburst
Final EF-Scale Rating: EF1
EF-Scale Damage Indicator / Degree of Damage: C-T/DOD-4
Location of worst damage: 54.3454N, 109.2504W
Description: Tree damage and structural damage to barns, bins and houses was reported in the areas of Peerless and Goodsoil after a storm passed through. No injuries have been reported at this time. An NTP ground and drone survey was completed on June 6-7, 2023. Damage assessed as EF1 downburst, with an estimated max. wind speed of 150 km/h. Satellite imagery review revealed intermittent downburst damage to trees along a swath approx. 30 km long (from Flat Valley to Mistohay Lake). Visible tree damage seen on satellite imagery and ground survey observations indicate a max path width of approx. 14 km.
Event Name: Lomond, AB
Date: June 11, 2023
Start Time: 6:55 PM MDT (0055 UTC)
Final Classification: Tornado (Over Land)
Final EF-Scale Rating: EF0-Default
Estimated tornado location: 50.30N, 112.63W
Description: Witnesses captured video and photos of a tornado south of Lomond. As no damage was reported and satellite imagery review revealed no visible damage, the EF-Scale assessment is EF0-Default. Information available insufficient to accurately estimate track length, max. path width and tornado motion.
Map showing the locations of the 7 events discussed above.
