Photo credit: The Weather Network

By Sheena Roszell/Curtis Galbraith

weather

Tornado confirmed south of Grande Prairie Monday

Jul 10, 2019 | 10:31 AM

Environment Canada says there was a tornado south of Grande Prairie Monday.

The twister, described as weak, swept through northern Alberta around 4:40 p.m. Monday and touched down about 75 km south of city.

“There was a gentleman at his worksite and he saw a funnel cloud coming across and there was a vortex at the surface associated with it,” explained Kyle Fougere, a Meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada.

There was minimal damage reported with the quick tornado.

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“There were some porta potties that were strewn about, but nothing significant that we have received reports of yet. Hopefully no one was in the (porta potties).”

Monday also marked the 15th anniversary of a tornado that went through Grande Prairie.

It damaged trees and buildings, blew out windows in the old York Hotel, knocked out the power, and flipped over at least one vehicle.

There were no injuries reported with the tornado of 2004. Environment Canada rated it an EF2 in places.

July is when we tend to see the most tornados in Alberta. Typically, after the first or second week of August we get very few reports.

“We have confirmed 14 tornados in Alberta so far this year and we do average only about 15/season. So with three to four weeks left in our peak tornado season, it’s likely that we are going to have an above average year,” Fougere added.