The federal weather agency confirmed Thursday that five tornadoes touched down in central Alberta earlier this week.
Tornadoes were reported Monday near the small communities of Edberg and Gadsby. Edberg is 95 kilometres southeast of Edmonton. Gadsby is 160 km southeast of the city.
On Thursday evening, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) issued a weather summary confirming that four tornadoes occurred near Edberg within 18 minutes of each other, from 2:38 p.m. to 2:56 p.m. Monday.
A tornado near Gadsby occurred later, around 4:45 p.m.
Environment Canada received photos and videos from people in those areas at the time and was able to confirm the tornadoes with help from the Northern Tornadoes Project, which is based out of Western University in London, Ont.
The content ECCC received from the Edberg area included damage to a farm. The Northern Tornadoes Project conducted an on-site survey, which rated the the damage as EF0 for each tornado — the lowest possible on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, which assesses tornadoes based on wind speed and related damage.
Maximum wind speeds were estimated to reach around 115 to 130 km/h, according to Environment Canada.
The tornado near Gadsby was also rated EF0, the agency said. It received photos of the tornado, but no damage was found.
