Canada’s tornado count increased by two after
Environment and Climate Change Canada
The ECCC confirmed tornadoes in Manitoba on Thursday, May 15.
Several tornado sightings were reported across the province amid late-day thunderstorms, including confirmed twisters in areas like Sperling, Niverville, and Gretna, Manitoba. The storms led to two validated incidents near Sperling and Niverville, as confirmed by ECCC on Friday, May 16th.
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The ECCC could not validate the Gretna report because of inadequate evidence at present, and they did not provide any damage ratings for the two verified tornadoes; however, they are still pursuing further investigation.
However, the
Northern Tornadoes Project
(NTP) preliminarily classified the Sperling twister as an EF-0, with no damage reported.
“Despite some rotation evident at cloud base, after radar analysis, we believe this was a landspout-type tornado,” said NTP, in a
article about the Sperling tornado
.
It’s worth noting, however, that NTP did not validate the reported tornado near Niverville. The organization stated instead that an ECCC-confirmed whirlwind seemed more likely connected to airborne debris such as dust or dirt lifted up at a gust front linked to extensive storm outflow areas. Similar to ECCC’s stance, they were unable to substantiate the account from Gretna, referencing identical observations made during their examination of the incident in Niverville.
“The information presented here relies on NTP radar analysis and, for the instance involving Niverville, includes thorough photographs and accounts provided directly to NTP by witnesses,” stated the organization in their communication.
blog
.
Nevertheless, NTP investigators keep searching for visual evidence.
The verification of tornadoes close to Sperling and Niverville has raised Canada’s 2025 count to six, as of May 17.
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