Quote:
Originally Posted by Drury18
Environment Canada has now confirmed it was a Tornado
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/tw...413/story.html
F0 Tornado, first seen in Calgary since 2009 and 9th since 1970.
These seems rather insignificant when we are, if you will, freaking out over a storm that blew a car into a lightpost and knocked some shingles off of a roof and caused rather minor things. I'm sure for people down in the Southern States, this is a joke of a storm to them. |
Sure a EF0 seems insignificant but this time of year it could have easily been a EF2 or EF3 or even higher (Edmonton was EF4 I believe and they are still debating if it was actually an EF5 at times). Having a larger tornado striking a populous city with no real warning system and a population that is just as likely to film it while it runs them over as take cover could be a huge disaster. It doesn't need to have huge wind speeds to lead to a lot of death...it just needs to hit the wrong area (a large trailer park or run down a highway at rush hour etc).
I look at it as a bit of reminder that this type of weather can happen even in Calgary and you need to know what to do. Not just as an individual who needs to get into the basement or into a strong interior room but also as a city or community that needs to know how to warn people early enough so they can find cover (sirens aren't likely a practical solution given the infrequency of the event, but mobilizing law enforcement might be).
We are essentially out of the tornado season right now down here, but as we hit fall we'll get back into it. We actually had tornado watches last year around Christmas.
edit: I hope no one saw my earlier post as making "fun" of the weather Calgary had. It certainly wasn't my intention, I just saw the thread and remembered I hadn't really updated anything for awhile.