Edmonton International Airport damaged by Thursday wind storm

Edmonton International Airport sustained damage in Thursday’s wind storm that briefly caused a closure of the departure area Thursday evening, but just three days before two tornadoes touched down outside of the city.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the airport said Thursday evening that it had experienced a “significant wind event” that forced the airport to close its departures area to all traffic, and redirected departing travellers to the arrivals area. However, roughly an hour after closing the departure area, the airport posted that it was back open to traffic, but that staff would be assessing the damages caused by the wind.

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Postmedia contacted the airport regarding the wind damage, but did not receive a reply.

Thursday evening’s storm spurred some reports in the city of winds reaching gusts of 129 km/h, but while the airport assesses the damage from the recent storm, Ontario’s Western University tracked two EF1 tornadoes that touched down near Edmonton earlier in the week.

As part of the Northern Tornadoes Project, Western confirmed two tornadoes touched down on Monday near Lac La Biche, about 200 kilometres northeast of the city.

The EF scale is short for Enhanced Fujita scale, which ranks the severity of a tornado based on its three-second gust wind speed. EF1 is the second lowest rating, but still brings brutal and destructive wind speeds ranging from 138 to 177 km/h.

The first tornado was recorded near Atmore on Monday at roughly 7 p.m., bringing a maximum gust of 175 km/h. Western said in its report that no injuries were reported, but that some home and tree damage had occurred around Atmore and Rossian. The report indicates that the tornado’s track was 21.2 kilometres long and reached a maximum width of 300 metres.

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The second tornado appeared shortly after the first in Avenir at roughly 7:25 p.m. According to the Western report, the Avenir tornado caused a narrow path of tree damage in the area. It had a track of about 6.4 kilometres, a maximum width of 370 metres, and winds gusting to 150 km/h.

While the severe weather warnings have subsided in the Edmonton area for the time being, Environment Canada issued a special air quality statement due to wildfire smoke, cautioning that conditions can vary significantly within a short time or distance. The statement warned that rising smoke levels carry elevated health risks, and recommended rescheduling or reducing outdoor activities.

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