The tornado killed 27 peopl, injured hundreds and caused more than $330 million in property damage. Figure 1 depicts the variations in tornado frequency between the years of 1890 to 1910. It includes teaching protocols on how to stay safe while reporting severe weather. [10] Grass scouring and windrowing of debris occurred, and damage in that area may have been borderline F5, but was never officially ranked as such.[11]. "You hope that you can be that one step ahead of the event, so that people stay safe," he said. F1 Injuries. He recalls being deployed to southeast Edmonton, and touches on how emergency preparedness has changed over the past 30 years. Cut a remarkably continuous path at least 60miles (97km) through mountainous terrain. "Even in the past decade or so, since I started my career here, things have changed a lot," Wagar said. George Demetrios, 19. Figure 4 depicts dew point temperatures in the low 20s for Tuesday July 23, 2019 near Edmonton, AB. Environment Canada responded swiftly upon receipt of the first report of a tornado touchdown from a resident of Leduc County which is immediately adjacent to Edmonton's southern boundary. "The scientific knowledge of Tornado-producing supercells wasn't developed.". I mean, I have to say that the people who lived here really came and worked together. The Edmonton tornado of 1987, an event also known as Black Friday to Edmontonians, was a powerful and devastating tornado that ripped through the eastern parts of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and parts of neighbouring Strathcona County on the afternoon of Friday, July 31, 1987. [5] It is the 2nd most devastating tornado is Canadian history. "If people are using their smart phone or using their cars, or in their homes, we have to be able to reach them wherever they are.". Canadian National Tornado Database: Verified Events (1980-2009) Public. Thirty years after first reporting the Edmonton tornado, Taylor said he has been studying weather ever since, and has becomeobsessed with tracking systems. Tornado rips through Edmonton on July 31, 1987, now known as Black Friday. Whats done is done and we have to keep going, Dale said. 27 deaths and over. The Olivers moved into a rented townhouse and vowed to rebuild. He had been in critical condition since being injured. Black Friday: Edmonton marks sombre 30-year anniversary of deadly tornado. This type of pattern is quite common in Alberta and usually spawns multi-day severe weather events as southerly flow pools warm/moist air against the Rocky Mountains. Monday marks a sombre day in Edmonton's history. Reports of tornadoes will continue to increase with population growth in the future. Hage (1988) specially noted that numbers outside of depicted circles are likely underestimated due to poor observational records, where records are bound closely to population centres. NWS Weather Prediction Center Surface Analysis Archive. Known as the Edmonton tornado, it left 27 dead and 253 injured. A History of Tornadoes In Alberta. EF5 tornado struck the southern part of the city along a west-to-east path .75 miles (1.21km) wide by 22.1 miles (35.6km) long. We encountered an issue signing you up. Questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity. Before the 20th century, and even until recently in third-world countries, records-keeping was spotty at best. A line of thunderstorms formed (presumably along the surface trough) in the early morning hours on Friday along the foothills southwest of Calgary. The agency has about 205,000 followers on social media and a new app users can sign up for to have alerts sent directly to their phones. Deaths scattered across two states; highest toll in. On Friday July 31st, the atmosphere was far from done dropping tornadoes in Alberta. Nobody in the history of Edmonton remembered a tornado. On the Sherwood Park Freeway, cars were picked up and flung. The tornado killed 27 people, injured about . "We're really dependant upon storm spotters to 'ground truth' some of the information for us," Proctor said. #otd 30 years ago July 31 1987 also known as #BlackFriday in #Alberta . Before the 1970s, and even now outside of North America, most tornado paths were not thoroughly surveyed to ensure that the storm was indeed a single tornado and not a series of tornadoes from the same storm (a tornado family). 0. '&utmxhash='+escape(h.substr(1)):'')+'" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8">')})(); At 3:36 pm, the Starthcona County Fire Department advised that the tornado had touched down on the Sherwood Park Freeway at 17th Street. I guess I didn't realize the significance of what I was seeing and how deadly they could be.". The tornado seared itself in Edmontons psyche as Black Friday, led to a major overhaul of early warning systems, and helped create the citys erstwhile motto, The City of Champions. It shows a temperature maximum at 1:00 pm of 24C with a dew point temperature of 18.6C. The fact that it came this close to a large city was totally unexpected. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. But were pretty good at disasters anyway I mean, look what happened in Fort McMurray and how Edmonton reacted to that. It is a priority for CBC to create a website that is accessible to all Canadians including people with visual, hearing, motor and cognitive challenges. Site created by Brock Tropea and Alysha Gunther,