I was in Calgary yesterday on the Crowchild Trail making my way back to Lethbridge when Tornado warnings interrupted the regular programming on the radio. A quick peak to my right (west) and I could see ominous black clouds with what looked to be a cow udder trying to make its way to the surface. The clouds were quite a ways off and I was heading in the opposite direction so I never really felt threatened. Thankfully the tornado never did touch down. But it made me think back to the Friday, July 31, 1987 tornado in Edmonton that killed 27 people. (The photo at the top of the page is of that fateful day) That was rated as an F4 as its maximum speed reached 416 km/h. It’s considered an F5 if it reaches speeds of 419 km/h. There’s only been one documented F5 in Canada. That was in 2007 in Ellie Manitoba. For all intents and purposes, that Black Friday event in Edmonton was an F5.
I can’t imagine the terror of those people in Edmonton driving the Whitemud and seeing that monster make its way through the city. It actually remained on the ground for an hour, cutting a swath of destruction 40 kilometres long and up to a kilometre wide in places.
The most terrified I’ve ever been during a summer storm was two years ago when I hit the mother of all hail storms in Fort Macleod. As I pulled through that town it was like someone had turned off the lights. Here it was 7pm in the middle of summer and it was eerily dark. And then the hail hit. My windshield wiper couldn’t go fast enough. I was getting pelted. I didn’t know if I should stop and run the risk of someone ramming me from behind or try to forge ahead and risk my windshield getting blown out by the hail. I opted to pull over to the side and try to wait it out. But the hail wouldn’t let up. Usually when I’ve experienced hail storms it lasts for about 5 minutes and it’s done. This one had staying power. It kept coming. The clouds overhead were swirling and I thought, “Oh boy there’s a tornado coming down and I’m going to be in a sequel to Twister. Instead of cow flying past Helen Hunt it’ll be me. I decided to drove slowly to Lethbridge taking about an hour to get home. To my amazement, the hail kept coming the entire time. For the record, I’m not a fan of being on a highway in the middle of severe weather. I could not be a storm chaser. I’m also happy to say that there was no damage to my vehicle and I did get home safely. However I did have to go to the Sears 2 for 1 underwear sale that was on that week.
Mark Boogieman 