A tornado touched down near the central Alberta community of Endiang Wednesday afternoon, according to Environment Canada.
On Wednesday evening, the weather agency confirmed a tornado, given a preliminary rating of EF0, touched down about three kilometres northeast of Endiang at around 2:25 p.m. No damage was reported as of 9 p.m.
Environment Canada said the twister was considered “landspout tornado.”
A tornado warning was dropped at 2:54 p.m. Wednesday afternoon for areas of Stettler County after Environment Canada issued the warning for areas near Byemoor and Endiang at 2:34 p.m.
“We were just moving some things around the yard…and noticed a funny little cloud was moving and starting to get bigger,” Stuart Somerville, who farms about three kilometres northeast of Endiang, said. “Everyone here noticed it around the same time so we all stood out in the yard to watch it to see if we needed to run for cover.”
“It did get quite big for a while there and it was moving really fast. I’ve never really noticed them fast like that before,” Somerville said.
Environment Canada said its meteorologists are still looking for people to submit photos of the tornado and any damage it may have caused. Anyone with information is asked to call 1.800.239.0484 or to email storm@ec.gc.ca.
While Environment Canada said the Endiang tornado was the only funnel cloud seen to have touched the ground, it had a number of funnel cloud sightings reported to it in parts of central and southern Alberta Wednesday.
Watch below: A farmer northeast of Endiang, Alta. spotted a funnel cloud while he was working just as Environment Canada issued a tornado warning for the area on July 13, 2016. (COURTESY: Stuart Somerville)
Several people south of Edmonton captured pictures of funnel clouds that formed in the Leduc area earlier Wednesday afternoon.
The pictures were snapped as a special weather advisory was in place for the region.
READ MORE: Alberta sees 5 tornadoes in 4 days: Environment Canada
Early Wednesday afternoon, Environment Canada said conditions were favourable for the development of funnel clouds in several regions southeast of Edmonton, adding a few funnel clouds were spotted in the Leduc area.
Environment Canada said these types of funnel clouds are generated by weak rotation under rapidly growing cloud or weak thunderstorms. The weak rotation is normally not a danger near the ground, the weather agency said.
Watch below: Video captured Wednesday afternoon shows a funnel cloud in the Leduc area
The city of Edmonton was not under the special weather advisory Wednesday afternoon. However, areas southeast of the city including Red Deer, Drumheller and Hanna were included in the advisory.
Also Wednesday afternoon, severe thunderstorm watches and warnings were issued for areas in southeast Alberta. For a full list of weather watches and warnings in place in Alberta, head to Environment Canada’s website.
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