Rare Tornado in Vancouver on Saturday, November 6, 2021

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A very rare occurrence happened this past Saturday when an EF0 tornado caused some minor damage in the Vancouver area. Tornadoes are rare enough in British Columbia but especially in November!

Environment Canada tweeted about a meso-low at 5:07 pm.

Video and photos were captured of a tornado over the Strait of Georgia that came ashore and caused damage to the University of British Columbia.

This video was taken at the UBC Golf Club as the tornado came through. Note the tree falling (0:07) and the blue flash (0:10) as power lines go down.

ECCC issued a Tornado Watch at 5:30pm.

In the video below of the aftermath of the Tornado at UBC you can see tree limbs and tree damage as well as damage to at least one car at the very end of the video.

Power outages were also noted in this tweet and prompted the discussion of the possibility that the tornado may have crossed the Burrard Inlet.

ECCC Weather British Columbia issued this tweet.

It is confirmed that an EF0 tornado occured at 5:10 pm PDT at UBC near University Golf Club (estimated wind speed 90-110 km/h). Damage includes broken trees/tree limbs, scattered tree debris, uprooted trees, downed power lines, and tree damage to vehicle.

Tornadoes are rare in British Columbia but they do occur. Prior to yesterday there were three tornados reported recently in BC:

  • EF0 in Mission on September 16, 2018

  • EF0 in Saanich on May 21, 2020

  • EF0 in Fort St. John on August 21, 2020

There have also been reports of non-supercell tornadoes over water in the Strait of Georgia. Three concurrent ones on June 9, 2021 and two concurrent ones on June 10, 2021.

Tornadoes in Vancouver or the surrounding area are very rare. The last confirmed tornado in Vancouver was in 1976 and in the area of Vancouver in 1991 (Pitt Meadows):

So grateful that no one was hurt and here's hoping this remains a rare occurrence.