The cleanup is underway after a tornado touched down in northwestern Alberta Monday evening, as a supercell thunderstorm swept through the Peace River region.
“We had a big frontal system move through and in behind that main front we had an area of showers,” said Janelle Gergely, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.
“On the southern area of showers, a supercell developed and that produced a tornado.”
Riley Connors, who lives in Girouxville, about four and a half hours northwest of Edmonton, was on his way home from work when the storm rolled in — first came dark clouds and then, he spotted a funnel cloud start to form.
“I’ve never seen anything like that before,” Connors said, noting he grew up on the East Coast and didn’t grow up with Alberta storms. “It just started picking up real bad, like getting super windy. My hat was blowing off and stuff.”
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He got a call that the storm had damaged his metal roof and pulled in to find more than just that.
“It was just a mess. My truck, the window was smashed — bunch of damage on vehicles, bunch of roofs messed up. It was devastating.”
Damage from a landspout tornado and severe thunderstorm near Girouxville in the Peace River region of Alberta on Monday, June 15, 2026.
Courtesy: Riley Connors
Gergely said Environment Canada collaborates to confirm such events with The Northern Tornadoes Project out of Western University, which works to detect, assess and document all tornadoes and thunderstorm-related wind damage across Canada.
Director Dr. Dave Sills said the data they collect is used by a lot of different organizations.
“We use it to build tornado risk models and that informs the insurance industry, building codes, that kind of thing. We use it to verify Environment Canada’s tornado warning program. We do tornado warning report cards to see how well the tornado warning system is doing,” he said.
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The information is also used to track long-term to weather patterns and how they change over time — something Sills says requires a lot of data.
“We’ve built it back to 1980 now so we have a pretty good data set to look long-term changes and that’s what we’re in the middle of now — see how things changing over a time, if climate change has an influence, other things that may be influential in the occurrence of tornadoes.”
Based on numerous reports and visual evidence, the Northern Tornadoes Project and Environment Canada confirmed at least one tornado occurred in the region on Monday night, but there could have been more.
Environment Canada received reports of the twister near Girouxville around 8 p.m. and about 90 minutes later, another report came from High Prairie, some 80 kilometres southeast.
“It (was) actually the same supercell, so it was very consistent as it tracked,” Gergely said.
The team said it received multiple reports of damage that appear to be associated with the tornado. An NTP damage survey team is headed to Alberta from Ontario to investigate.
“It was a very long track that that supercell thunderstorm took and it looks like there was another part of the tornado, either a separate tornado or the same tornado, hit east of High Prairie,” Sills said. “So a lot to investigate and they’ll be on the ground starting (Wednesday.)”
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Video and photos sent to Global News showed a funnel cloud forming and the aftermath — damaged grain silos and flipping outbuildings.
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Down the road from his place, Connors said a neighbour lost a large section of roof and several trees were uprooted. Other homes had busted windows and neighbour’s trampolines in their yards.
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“It would have been nice to have a bit of a warning, but it is what it is — Mother Nature,” Connors said.
Damage from a landspout tornado and severe thunderstorm near Girouxville in the Peace River region of Alberta on Monday, June 15, 2026.
Courtesy: Riley Connors
No tornado warning during storm
The storm developed suddenly, with no tornado watches or warnings issued beforehand.
“It’s one that was a bit sneaky, you know, the conditions came together but it wasn’t clear that that was to happen,” Sills said.
Environment Canada said said based on the radar readings, meteorologists were only anticipating hail.
“We knew that the environment was favorable for thunderstorm development, but we didn’t anticipate severe thunderstorm development,” Gergely said. “We were watching that storm very closely on radar and we weren’t concerned with it until it created a ‘hail signature,’ as we call it on radar.”
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At that point, around 9:30 p.m., Environment Canada said it issued a warning for hail, but not a tornado as the supercell didn’t have the typical signatures for that.
“For us to issue a tornado warning, we would want to see a clear signature on radar — we’d want to know that the environment is favorable for tornadic activity or we’d want to receive a report,” she said, adding those didn’t start coming in until after 10 p.m., well after the storm had moved past.
“That’s why the severe thunderstorm was not warned specifically for tornadoes — but for other severe impacts like hail and strong winds.”
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Tornado damage in Southeast Sask.
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The storm swept through a relatively remote, rural agricultural area, so reports were slower to come in than if the storm had been in or near a city.
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“If this would have occurred near Edmonton or near Calgary, we probably would have got a lot more reports about it,” Gergely said.
10 tornados so far in 2026
Thunderstorms form when moist, warm air rises. The air expands and cools, forming a cloud. Atmospheric instability, such as strong wind shear (the change in wind speed and direction) is essential in the formation of thunderstorms.
It’s been a cool spring so far in Alberta, Environment Canada said, without the conditions needed to help generate the kind of big summer thunderstorms known for triggering tornados in Alberta.
“I think about one-third of all tornadoes will occur in July and Alberta typically has around 15 tornadoes a year,” Gergely said, while noting Alberta has had quite a few already this spring.
The Northern Tornado Project has confirmed 10 tornadoes in Alberta this year so far, all the southern portion of the province, but Gergely and Sills said they were all landspouts, not supercell twisters, and didn’t cause any damage.
Landspout vs supercell tornado
The difference between a landspout and supercell comes down to the amount of energy available, what is happening in the lower levels of the air, and how much rotation is occurring in the storm clouds.
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Landspouts are twisters triggered by thunderstorms that develop quickly, and are generally smaller and weaker than supercell tornadoes.
“These are tornadoes that are weak and if they do hit something, they won’t cause a lot of damage,” Sills said.
Supercells are the king of all thunderstorms.
In Alberta, the large, single-cell, severe storms typically begin to develop in the foothills in the morning, building energy before sweeping east across the Prairies in the afternoon and evening.
“Supercell thunderstorms are the most highly organized type of thunderstorm,” Sills explained.
It possesses a strong, rotating updraft, or air that is moving up within the developing system. The updraft, called a mesocyclone, can reach speeds higher than 160 km/h. The rotation of a supercell can often be spotted from the ground.
“They have strong updrafts that are rotating themselves — so even before the tornado begins, the storm itself is rotating,” Sills said.
In order for a severe thunderstorm or supercell tornadoes to form, three things are needed: moisture, wind shear and atmospheric instability — conditions more common next month, Gergely said.
“Going forward, any tornadoes may likely come out of supercells thunderstorm. And that’s what you’ll likely see in the month of July.”
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Supercell vs Landspout Tornado
Environment Canada’s tips for when a tornado is imminent:
- Take cover immediately, if threatening weather approaches. If you hear a roaring sound or see a funnel cloud, swirling debris near the ground, flying debris, or any threatening weather approaching, take shelter immediately.
- Go indoors to a room on the lowest floor, away from outside walls and windows, such as a basement, bathroom, stairwell or interior closet. Leave mobile homes, vehicles, tents, trailers and other temporary or free-standing shelter, and move to a strong building if you can. As a last resort, lie in a low spot and protect your head from flying debris.
- Lightning kills and injures Canadians every year. Remember, when thunder roars, go indoors!
Tornado warnings are issued when imminent or occurring thunderstorms are likely to produce or are producing tornadoes.
Environment Canada meteorologists are seeking pictures of the damage the storm may have caused.
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