Surveying the damage: How tornadoes are ranked after the sky clears
CBC
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It's officially the height of storm season on the Prairies. Severe thunderstorms, hail and, of course, tornadoes are all possible when it comes to our summer months.
In Canada, tornadoes happen every year, and though areas like Ontario and Quebec can see their fair share, the Prairie provinces are often the bull's eye, with between 14 and 18 tornadoes for each Saskatchewan and Alberta being considered normal.
Friday marked the first anniversary of the EF-2 tornado outbreak in Barrie, Ont. This month will mark 35 years since Edmonton's devastating F-4 tornado on July 31, 1987, which killed 27 people and injured hundreds more.
But this season has already been busy for storm chasers. We've seen EF-1 and EF-2 tornadoes in Alberta and a number of tornadoes causing damage in Saskatchewan.
But how do these headline-makers get those oh-so-familiar ratings? And what value does studying the past have in our forecasting futures?
Studying past events is no new concept. Researchers are constantly looking back to improve the response to severe weather events in the future.
Francis Lavigne-Theriault surveys storm damage for the Northern Tornadoes Project out of Western University in London, Ont.
The project aims to assess and document every tornado that happens in Canada, through satellite, drone and on-the-ground observation.
Lavigne-Theriault says that through his research, he hopes to improve the accuracy of tornado warnings.
He adds that building a complete foundation for where tornadoes have happened in the past will help future research.
"We're trying to build Canada's true tornado climatology and we're trying to do the same thing with hail," Lavigne-Theriault said in an interview.
"And then eventually we're going to hopefully do the same thing with all kinds of severe weather hazards for sure."
Kyle Fougere is a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada. Forecasting and warning for severe weather are a big part of his job, but he says he and his fellow meteorologists learn new skills from each tornado.
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