Elie, Manitoba Tornado

The 2007 Elie tornado was a small but extremely powerful and erratic tornado that occurred in Canada, during the evening hours of Friday, June 22, 2007. The powerful F5 tornado that struck the town of Elie, in the Canadian province of Manitoba ( west of Winnipeg) was known for its unusual path, how it was during its path, its rope to cone structure as opposed to a "wedge" structure, and how it is unique compared to other F5/ EF5 tornadoes. It was part of a small two-day tornado outbreak that occurred in the area and reached a maximum width of . The tornado was unusual because it caused the extreme damage during its roping out stage at a mere in width and moved extremely slowly and unpredictably. The tornado tracked primarily southeast, as opposed to the usual northeast, and made multiple loops and sharp turns.

While several houses were leveled, no one was injured or killed by the tornado. A home in the town was swept off of its foundation, and it was the entire house that sucked into the tornado, justifying the F5 classification. One of the strongest twisters on record since 1999, it is one of only ten to be rated F5/EF5 since 1999 in North America. The tornado caused damage of an estimated $39 million ($56.1 million in 2024).

Meteorological synopsis

The synoptic situation on June 22 was conducive to a major severe weather event in southern Manitoba. A low pressure system came in from Saskatchewan through the day, and then moved over southern Manitoba throughout the evening. A warm front was positioned north of Elie for much of the day with a trailing cold front residing west of Elie near the Lake Manitoba basin southwest through southeast Saskatchewan. A lake breeze boundary was also present south of Lake Manitoba.

Very warm air was situated over Southern Manitoba that day as temperatures climbed into the high 20s °C (low 80s °F). The humidity was also uncomfortably high, with dewpoints ranging from . Strong wind shear was present, reflected in high helicity values. These conditions were favorable for supercells, which are thunderstorms with rotating updrafts, and they developed within the warm sector located in the Red River Valley and areas farther west. The situation was exacerbated by the presence of the lake breeze boundary because the atmosphere was capped through much of the day with little in the way of a trigger. This boundary provided the focus for storms to develop rapidly and become severe, given the high instability present.

Storm track and damage

The tornado initially touched down north of the Trans-Canada Highway around 6:25 p.m. CDT (23:25 UTC) and slowly moved southeast where it picked up and overturned a semi-trailer and a tractor trailer. The tornado slowly turned east, took a sharp turn south, and then took another sharp turn east all within roughly . The tornado made another turn south and made an extremely slow loop over the town's flour mill at F2 intensity, causing over $1 million in damage. Multiple semi trucks were overturned and damaged and building walls buckled inward. At this point, the tornado was producing F1 to F2 level damage and had grown to a width of . From there, it headed south, parallel to Janzen Road, at F0 intensity. It also continued to grow and reached its peak width of about 140 m. After reaching the intersection of Janzen Road and Road 61 North, the tornado turned east directly towards the southwest edge of Elie. It quickly intensified to F4 strength while it made a loop over Elie Street. Here, it damaged a dozen homes and destroyed four houses, including one that was described as well-built and bolted to its foundation, being lifted completely off its foundation and thrown into the air where it then broke apart, justifying F5 intensity. The tornado was even strong enough to rip some sill plates and snap off bolts that supported them. Trees were debarked as well. The two other houses sustained F4 level damage, with both of them being almost completely lifted off of their foundations. One other house also sustained F2 or F3 level damage, with the entire roof torn off and multiple exterior walls collapsed. The tornado also flipped and threw multiple cars, including a car that was tossed over 100 meters, and even tossed one homeowner's Chrysler Fifth Avenue onto a neighbor's roof. The tornado lingered over this area of Elie for approximately four minutes before it exited Elie to the southwest and rapidly dissipated.

The tornado traveled about and was wide at its widest during its 35-minute lifespan. The tornado repeatedly struck essentially the same area of town, destroying most of the structures and vehicles in the area. A video of the tornado shows an entire two-story home swiped off its foundation and tossed in the air before rotating around the tornado and then being obliterated. Also seen on the video was a three-quarters-of-a-ton GM van filled with drywall picked up and tossed hundreds of feet. At least three houses are seen being destroyed on the video, along with many more houses and vehicles being damaged. The mill in Elie is also shown being damaged by the tornado, with bins and roofs destroyed.

Aftermath

Since the people in Elie were prepared and took the necessary precautions during the event, no one was injured or killed during the storm. The following day, Environment Canada sent out a storm damage survey team from the Prairie and Arctic Storm Prediction Centre to assess the damage caused by the tornado. On September 18, 2007, the tornado was upgraded to F5 on the Fujita scale from the original F4 based on video analysis of the tornado and reassessment of the damage. This was the first tornado in Canada to be officially rated as such, making it the strongest confirmed tornado in Canadian history. It was one of only two F5/EF5 tornadoes that year (the other being a large and destructive EF5 tornado that struck Greensburg, Kansas on May 4), and there have only been ten confirmed since 1999. At the time, Canada had not adopted the Enhanced Fujita scale.

F4 vs F5 rating

In 2008 at the American Meteorological Society's 24th Conference on Severe Local Storms, Patrick J. McCarthy, along with D. Carlsen and J. Slipec, submitted a paper for and hosted a presentation on the Elie tornado. At the conference, it was presented that some of the damage did point to an F5 rating, however, the survey team was concerned the tornado was weaker than F5 strength, and only caused the extreme damage due to moving slowly, where it could have "relentlessly pounded the houses into a higher level of destruction". After further investigation using video evidence captured by people watching the tornado, the surveyors determined that "the structural failures were quick. The structural assessments indicated that the homes were well-built and generally well-secured. In particular, one of the destroyed homes met all of the requirements for the highest damage rating." The team also noted that the damage would have qualified for an EF5 rating on the Enhanced Fujita scale, which was in use in the United States at the time.

Significance

At the same time as the Elie tornado, another tornado was occurring close to nearby Oakville. That tornado was rated as an F3 with winds of after it destroyed several outbuildings, a couple of grain storage bins, and many trees. The Elie tornado was also significant because of how it looked while at F5 intensity. The tornado was reaching the end of its life span and was in its roping out/decaying stage. Some meteorologists suggest the intensity was due to the rapid implosion of the tornado's wind field, which caused it to quickly accelerate for a brief period of time.

Other tornadoes

In addition to the Elie F5 tornado, four more tornadoes also affected Canada on June 22–23.

See also

* Tornadoes of 2007
* List of Canadian tornadoes and tornado outbreaks (since 2001)
* List of F5, EF5, and IF5 tornadoes
* 2007 Greensburg tornado – An EF5 tornado that struck Greensburg, Kansas, United States a month and a half prior
* 1997 Jarrell tornado – Another F5 tornado with an unusual path and slow movement that produced the worst tornado damage ever observed
* Scarth, Manitoba – Home to another Manitoba tornado that has been debated to have been EF5
* Alonsa, Manitoba (rural municipality) – Home to another Manitoba tornado that has been debated to have been EF5
* List of notable media in the field of meteorology

Notes

References

External links

Video of tornado

Popular Manitoba tornado video

The Elie, Manitoba F5 Tornado

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