A tornado touched down in southern Saskatchewan Tuesday evening, prompting Environment Canada to issue multiple tornado alerts.
Environment Canada confirmed the tornado hit Oxbow in southeastern Saskatchewan as a powerful storm system swept across the province Tuesday, bringing large hail, heavy rain and damaging winds.
The red alert issued around 7 p.m. carried Environment Canada’s highest warning level, known for “very dangerous and potentially life-threatening situations.”
At the time, Environment Canada said the severe thunderstorm was located east of Estevan and moving northeast at about 60 km/h.
At around 8 p.m., Environment Canada issued another red-level tornado warning as the storm tracked northeast, affecting areas including Storthoaks, Fertile, Alameda, Alida, Redvers, Antler and Wauchope.
“The severe thunderstorm and potential tornado is located to the northeast of Oxbow and is moving northeast. This thunderstorm has a history of producing tornadoes,” the weather agency said in its updated alert issued at 7:57 p.m.
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Video shared on social media appeared to show a funnel cloud near Oxbow as the storm moved through the region.
The tornado was also confirmed by the Northern Tornadoes Project, a Western University-based research initiative that documents and analyzes tornadoes and severe storms across Canada.
David Sills, the organization’s executive director, said researchers had been monitoring the weather event closely.
“We knew it was a high-end tornado environment, meaning that the conditions were there for a really powerful tornado if all the ingredients could come together somewhere,” Sills said, adding that it was possibly on the ground for 40 kilometres.
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Sills said a storm chaser followed the tornado and documented extensive damage at a farmstead in its path.
“There’s vehicles thrown, there’s a house that’s severely damaged, barns disappeared, grain bins gone,” he said. “It’s quite a bit of damage. It’s the kind of damage that we don’t see very often.”
This is the third confirmed tornado in the province so far this year.
The first tornado was observed on May 22 in Disley, about a 40-minute drive north-west of Regina, and was assigned an EF0-Default rating. The second tornado was observed on June 7 in Hirsch, located just east of Estevan, and was assigned an EF1 rating.
Crews are out assessing damage to assign the Oxbow tornado a rating, said Sills, adding that he expects a preliminary rating to be ready by Thursday. However, he notes the tornado was significant enough that it could reach a rating of EF3, which he said is rare in the country.
“Pretty much 99 per cent of tornadoes across Canada are EF2 or less, as far as the rating of damage goes. So just one per cent basically, with the EF3 or higher, and it does seem like this event may be in that category,” Sills said.
This morning, signs were seen in areas where the storm caused damage, offering full property cleanup of tree stumps and other debris.
Environment Canada’s website says further information will be released as damage assessments continue.
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