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Saskatchewan experienced an increase in tornado activity this year.
Terri Lang, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, says there were 25 tornadoes investigated with an additional two still waiting to be confirmed. The average number of tornadoes per year in Saskatchewan is around 14 or 15.
Lang notes most of the tornado activity this year was in the northwestern part of the province.
"Tornado activity was up this year, mainly because we had a wet spring and what happens when we have moisture that comes in is it helps the crops to grow and when crops grow, they give off a tremendous amount of moisture. It's called evapotranspiration and that fuels the storms that we get in the summer. The last couple of years have been drought years and the number of tornadoes that we've gotten has been quite low. This year seemed relatively busy compared to the last couple of years because they were drought years."
There was an outbreak on June 29 with seven tornadoes confirmed that day. Lang notes most of those were weak although there was an EF-2 confirmed at Manitou Beach. There was also an EF-2 at Blaine Lake on July 8, and another near Paynton that same day. An EF-2 was also confirmed near Big River on August 4.
Lang says they don’t often see large numbers of EF-2 tornadoes.
"This year we had the benefit of being able to investigate them a little more thoroughly, just because the last couple of years it's been COVID and we haven't been able to go out and investigate and we partner with the Northern Tornado Project and they go out and do all the damage surveys and the way tornadoes are rated is based on the damage that they do. If they land in the middle of a field and they look huge, but they don't hit anything, we can't rate them. We rely on the damage indicators that tell us how strong the winds were and that tells us what the rating of the tornado will be."
The only EF-5 tornado recorded in Canada was in Elie, Manitoba in 2007.