The First F5 Tornado in Canada

Brett Anderson here at AccuWeather published a blog entry in his Canadian Blog on Thursday (PREMIUM | PRO) (he also writes our Global Warming blog) about Canada's first F5 tornado. You can see the press release from Environment Canada here, which reads in part:

Environment Canada meteorologists have confirmed that the Elie, Manitoba tornado of June 22, 2007 reached F5 intensity, the highest rating on the Fujita tornado damage scale, making it the first officially documented F5 tornado in Canada.

Only two F4 tornadoes have happened in Canada, and Manitoba averages only 9 per year (there were 11 this year). Brett also posted some YouTube video links in his blog entry. I'll take this time to re-post this photo that I posted the day after the storm; what a beautiful storm:

A tornado touches down near Elie, Manitoba [Google Map] on Friday June 22, 2007. At least four homes were destroyed and several others damaged Friday night after tornado hit a small town west of Winnipeg. There were no reports of injuries, but a ground search was underway to make sure everyone was accounted for. Environment Canada meteorologist David Wray said the weather office received three reports of tornadoes touching down on Friday night - one west of Portage La Prairie, another in Elie, and a third in the Carman area. (AP PHOTO/Wayne Hanna)

Elie is west of Winnipeg, and north of Fargo and Grand Forks, ND: