Environment Canada working to confirm possible weekend tornado over Vancouver

VANCOUVER – Environment Canada is examining all available evidence as meteorologists try to confirm if a rare and powerful tornado touched down Saturday on Vancouver’s west side.  

The weather office confirms a tornado was spotted over the Strait of Georgia just west of the Vancouver International Airport at about 5 p.m. on Nov. 6.  

It says the storm then swept over a section of the University of B.C. campus, downing trees and power lines across a major road to the campus.  

Buses, pedestrians and cyclists were still diverted from University Boulevard as crews continued clearing away fallen trees and branches two days after the warning.  

No one was hurt and the tornado watch issued by Environment Canada was quickly lifted.  

A statement posted Sunday by the weather office said it was still trying to calculate wind speeds and determine if the storm ranked as a tornado when it made landfall.  

British Columbia has been hit by a series of unusual weather events ranging from a heat dome in late June that created the hottest-ever temperatures recorded in Canada, to two so-called bomb cyclones that hammered B.C.’s south coast last month.  

Feature image by iStock.com/koto_feja