It's turned out Thursday evening was more than just the beginning of a stretch of rainy weather in the Pembina and Red River Valleys. According to Environment Canada, it also included a suspected landspout near Gretna and two confirmed twisters near Sperling and Niverville respectively.
"On May 15th, ECCC received reports of tornadoes near Sperling, Niverville and Gretna," indicated a weather summary posted to the weather forcecaster's website Friday afternoon. "At this time, the tornadoes near Sperling and Niverville have been confirmed. These tornadoes have not yet been rated."
As for the possible landspout near Gretna, it was captured on camera by Henry Blatz who submitted the below video to PembinaValleyOnline.
A landspout is a non-supercell thunderstorm produced tornado. It is a tornado with a narrow, rope-like condensation funnel that forms while the thunderstorm cloud is still growing, and there is no rotating updraft. The spinning motion originates near the ground.
"There remains insufficient evidence to confirm the Gretna tornado report at this time, however, meteorologists continue to investigate this event," noted the Environment Canada release.
"It does appear in the video there is some rotation in the cloud deck, and also on the ground within the dust cloud," said CMOS Accredited Weathercaster Chris Sumner. "Whether this is ultimately classified as a landspout event, that will ultimately land with Environment Canada based on the evidence available.
I’m pretty sure I saw a landspout today near Gretna Manitoba #mbstorm pic.twitter.com/gZhdKhEOOS
— (wanna be) Storm chaser Henry Blatz (@HBlatz12796) May 16, 2025
There were no Severe Thunderstorm Watches or Warnings in effect in the Gretna area at the time of the reported landspout.
Meanwhile, Environment Canada is actively seeking pictures of the suspected tornadoes and/or any damage they may have caused. Should you have any information regarding these events, or to report severe weather at any time, please call 1-800-239-0484, email storm@ec.gc.ca, or post to #mbstorm.
