This, so far, has been a summer to remember in Saskatchewan. Not in my lifetime, or for that matter, many other’s lifetimes, have we seen this type of destruction or damage caused by weather. We live in a climate that brings us extremes of cold and snow in winter and hot and dry or wet in summer. But these explosions of destruction this last while are disturbing. To think that in an almost a desert area of Saskatchewan, the Trans Canada Highway can be washed away near Maple Creek. That’s major impact. Water levels from rain storms that baffle the mind. Then there was Saskatoon, then Yorkton, now that force three Tornado to touch down on farm land and the Kawacatoose Reserve near Raymore. Regina has had it’s share of destruction over many years as well.
Two funnel clouds touched down at Regina on June 30th, 1912 at 4:45 pm. The tornado started 11 miles (18 kilometers) south of Regina and created a path of destruction northward in the affluent residential area between Wascana Lake and Victoria Avenue and the business district downtown. Within the city, the tornado continued for an additional 7 ½ miles (12 kilometers) and it lasted three minutes.
The tornado was rated as a F4 on the Fujita Scale and the criteria for this rating is:
•Sustained wind speeds 207 – 260 mph (333 – 418 km/hr)
•Well constructed homes can be leveled
•Buildings with weak foundations can be blown some distance
•Cars may be thrown
•Large objects can become missiles
There were 28 deaths and 2500 people were left homeless. Approximately 500 buildings were destroyed or damaged. The property damage was over $1.2 million and that was based on costs in 1912. In the downtown area, the path of destruction was 12 city blocks long and 3 blocks wide.
(Houses Damaged by Regina Cyclone – Regina Cyclone City of Regina Archives)
The deadliest tornado in Canadian history, the Regina Cyclone of June 30, 1912, does not even rank in the top 25 when compared to American tornado fatalities. Urban centres are not immune from the threat of severe Tornadoes. Seven medium to large size Canadian cities were hit by significant strength tornadoes (F3 or higher) during the 20th century which caused large-scale damage and fatalities, in Regina (1912), Windsor twice (1946 and 1974), Sarnia (1953), Sudbury (1970), Woodstock (1979), Barrie (1985), and in Edmonton (1987).
On average, there are on average 80 confirmed and many more unconfirmed tornadoes that touch down in Canada each year, most are rated between F0 to F2 in damage intensity level and usually result cause minor structural damage to barns, wood fences, roof shingles, chimneys, down small power lines and uproot or snap tree limbs. Less than 5% of Tornadoes in Canada are rated F3 or higher in intensity, where windspeeds are in excess of 250 km/h. Of the provinces, Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan average the most tornadoes or close to 15 per season followed by Quebec with less than 10. All other province and territories have significantly less threat from Tornadoes. The peak season in Canada is in the summer months when clashing airmasses move north, as opposed to the spring season in the US southern-central plains, although tornadoes in Canada have occurred in spring, fall and in the most rarest of cases, winter. The Fujita scale was invented in 1971 by Ted Fujita of Chicago, Illinois. It was renamed the Enhanced Fujita Scale on February 1, 2007.
You never worry about events like this, thinking they will always happen somewhere else. Well, somewhere else just happens to be in our neighbourhood. Let’s hope Mother nature’s fury comes to an end soon.
