Environment and Climate Change Canada said the twister tore a path of destruction Saturday afternoon between the towns of Carstairs and Didsbury.
Officials vary in their estimate of homes damaged, ranging from nine to 14, with a handful completely flattened. No one was seriously hurt in the storm, although a woman was found trapped in her basement after the tornado destroyed her house as she was beneath it.
On Monday, the Northern Tornadoes Project surveyed the damage. It’s a Western University unit focused on understanding tornadoes in Canada.
“Obviously, this was a very significant event,” said Connell Miller, a survey lead with the group. He spoke Monday with Loren McGinnis on the Calgary Eyeopener.
Calgary Eyeopener7:26Mountain View County tornado
A powerful tornado destroyed homes north of Calgary over the weekend. We chat with a researcher surveying the damage.
Based on what he’s seen on the ground, Miller said the weekend tornado was likely more powerful than EF-2, categorized on the enhanced Fujita scale by wind speeds of 178 to 217 km/h.
According to Miller, roughly 95 per cent of tornadoes that touch down in Canada are rated EF-2 or less. He described these as “less severe,” although they are still powerful enough to topple trees or blow off a home’s roof.
The tornado that tore through Mountain View County on Saturday was more powerful than these, according to Miller.
“This tornado will definitely fall within that five per cent of tornadoes that are stronger than [EF-2],” he said. “Just where exactly that will fall is still to be determined.”
Miller, an engineering researcher, says his team determines the strength of a tornado by looking at the structure of the homes destroyed and figuring out how powerful the winds would need to be to topple the buildings.
Miller said his team will likely have a rating for the tornado by Tuesday morning. Should it be rated an EF-3, that would mean the winds were between 218 and 266 km/h. If an EF-4, the winds would have ranged between 267 and 322 km/h.
One of the houses destroyed in the storm belonged to Elisa Humphreys. She fled with her dog and cat just moments before her home was blown to pieces. She described the wreckage as looking like an airplane crash.
“What it is, is the total destruction of two homes that have just been shredded and spread everywhere,” she said.
Dozens of people in the local community have turned out over the past few days to help clean up the debris, which included machinery that was thrown from one property to another and large trees uprooted and downed.
Lance Douglas, of Olds, helped organize the ongoing cleanup efforts. He was driving home from Calgary with this son on Saturday when they saw the tornado’s aftermath.
“We were driving by on the highway and saw the devastation,” he said. “We knew the Alberta way is that you just go and help.”
Douglas helped start a Facebook group to organize cleanup efforts, reaching out to the property owners to understand their needs and if they wanted volunteers on their land.
“Everyone’s really happy to have volunteers that are coming out and helping, even those that didn’t [initially] want people on their farm further contacted us, and we’ve been able to send volunteers there, trucks and tools,” Douglas said.
A barbecue on Monday was held to show appreciation to the volunteers. Over the next few days, Douglas said, their efforts will be focused on moving gathered debris to the dump and bringing in large machinery to removed downed trees.
“There’s still miles of work yet to do,” he said.
Damage can be seen near Elisa Humphreys’ home. (Helen Pike/CBC)
Tornadoes in Canada
According to Miller, one of the reasons the Northern Tornadoes Project was founded was to get a better sense of the tornado climatology in Canada.
While official meteorological records indicated around 60 to 70 tornadoes a year in Canada, models suggested the figure should be significantly higher.
The reason the official figure is low, Miller said, is likely a matter of population density. Every year, a number of tornadoes touch down in areas where no one lives — and therefore aren’t reported.
“Since we’ve been founded in 2017, we’ve found that that [tornado] average is closer to 100 to 120 per year,” Miller said.
Terri Lang, a Saskatoon-based meteorologist with Environment Canada, said the tornado came out of a supercell thunderstorm.
“Supercell thunderstorms are the types of thunderstorms that form in very specific conditions,” she said. “These storms form their own environment, and they can last a very, very long time. They kind of feed on themselves, and they can travel hundreds of kilometres, producing all types of severe weather.”
Saturday’s intense heat was a factor — such warmth is required to produce a supercell. But for the formation of a tornado, the key factor is wind shear, with wind changing direction and/or speed over a short distance.
“That allows the storm to spin,” Lang said. “Once the storm is spinning, it’s capable of producing a tornado.”
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — The San Francisco 49ers placed All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey on injured reserve because of his lingering calf and Achilles tendon injuries.
The move made Saturday means McCaffrey will miss at least four more games after already sitting out the season opener. He is eligible to return for a Thursday night game in Seattle on Oct. 10.
McCaffrey got hurt early in training camp and missed four weeks of practice before returning to the field on a limited basis last week. He was a late scratch for the opener on Monday night against the Jets and now is sidelined again after experiencing pain following practice on Thursday.
McCaffrey led the NFL last season with 2,023 yards from scrimmage and was tied for the league lead with 21 touchdowns, winning AP Offensive Player of the Year.
The Niners made up for McCaffrey’s absence thanks to a strong performance from backup Jordan Mason, who had 28 carries for 147 yards and a touchdown in San Francisco’s 32-19 victory over the New York Jets. Mason is set to start again Sunday at Minnesota.
After missing 23 games because of injuries in his final two full seasons with Carolina, McCaffrey had been healthy the past two seasons.
He missed only one game combined in 2022-23 — a meaningless Week 18 game last season for San Francisco when he had a sore calf. His 798 combined touches from scrimmage in the regular season and playoffs were the third most for any player in a two-year span in the past 10 years.
Now San Francisco will likely rely heavily on Mason, a former undrafted free agent out of Georgia Tech who had 83 carries his first two seasons. He had at least 10 touches just twice before the season opener, when his 28 carries were the most by a 49ers player in a regular-season game since Frank Gore had 31 against Seattle on Oct. 30, 2011.
The Niners also have fourth-round rookie Isaac Guerendo and Patrick Taylor Jr. on the active roster. Guerendo played three offensive snaps with no touches in the opener. Taylor had 65 carries for Green Bay from 2021-23.
San Francisco also elevated safety Tracy Walker III from the practice squad for Sunday’s game against Minnesota.
BRUSSELS – Canada walked away with some hardware at the Diamond League track and field competition Saturday.
Alysha Newman finished third in women’s pole vault, while Marco Arop did the same in the men’s 800-metre race.
Newman won a bronze medal in her event at the recent Paris Olympics. Arop grabbed silver at the same distance in France last month.
Australia’s Nina Kennedy, who captured gold at the Summer Games, again finished atop the podium. Sandi Morris of the United States was second.
Newman set a national record when she secured Canada’s first-ever pole vault medal with a bronze at the Olympics with a height of 4.85 metres. The 30-year-old from London, Ont., cleared 4.80 metres in her second attempt Saturday, but was unable conquer 4.88 metres on three attempts.
Arop, a 25-year-old from Edmonton, finished the men’s 800 metres with a time of one minute 43.25 seconds. Olympic gold medallist Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya was first with a time of 1:42.70.
Djamel Sedjati, edged out by Arop for silver in Paris last month, was second 1:42.87
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024.
MILAN (AP) — Bologna’s preparations for its Champions League debut are not going well though it managed to spoil Como’s first Serie A home match in 21 years on Saturday.
Bologna came from two goals down to salvage a 2-2 draw to gather three points from its opening four matches.
Bologna hosts Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday. Its only other appearance in Europe’s top competition was in 1964 in the preliminary round of the old European Cup.
AC Milan is also winless as it prepares for a Tuesday Champions League match against Liverpool. The Rossoneri hosted promoted Venezia later. Juventus drew at Empoli 0-0.
Como made a great start in the fifth minute when Patrick Cutrone attempted to roll the ball across the six-yard box but it took a huge deflection off Bologna defender Nicolò Casale for an own goal.
Bologna thought it was gifted a way back into the match on the stroke of halftime when referee Marco Piccinini signalled for a penalty following an Alberto Moreno handball, but he revoked his decision and instead gave a free kick because the handball was just outside the area.
Bologna improved after the break but found itself further behind when Cutrone raced onto a through ball and cut inside past a defender and fired into the far bottom corner.
Tommaso Pobega hit the post for Bologna, which finally pulled one back in the 76th through substitute Santiago Castro.
Another substitute helped the visitors snatch a point when Samuel Iling-Junior curled a fine strike into the top left corner in stoppage time.
Unbeaten sides
Juventus, and more surprisingly Empoli, are among six unbeaten sides.
Empoli held Monza and Bologna to draws either side of a shock 2-1 win at Roma. Juventus’ perfect start to the season was ruined by Roma in a goalless draw before the international break.
On Saturday, there were few clearcut chances in Empoli although home goalkeeper Devis Vásquez made spectacular saves to fingertip out a Federico Gatti header and deny Dusan Vlahovic in a one on one with the Juventus forward.
Empoli had a good opportunity in the 73rd minute following an Alberto Grassi one-two with Pietro Pellegri but the finish was straight at Mattia Perin.
The host could have won it right at the death but Gatti flew in with a great sliding block to keep out Emanuel Gyasi’s close-range effort.
Juventus hosts PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League on Tuesday.
