Two weak tornadoes blew through Thompson in the last Thursday and Friday, the first in Southwood Plaza, the second touching down in the Station Road area Friday afternoon.
Friday at about 2:15 p.m., people in much of Thompson's downtown core were able to see the second tornado, which wound its way from the Thompson Plaza near Extra Foods, across Mystery Lake Road to the Home Hardware area, down Station Road towards the Ford dealership, then northwest to the City Centre Mall parking lot, blowing dust and dirt wherever it went.
Thompson resident Vince Guay saw the tornado in its early stages from as far north as Nickel Road, estimating that he was able to follow it for about three minutes before it disappeared over a hill towards Eastwood. Ruth Gelasco first noticed it when she was standing outside Extra Foods, and then watched as it disappeared behind the plaza and went towards Home Hardware.
Karen Short, who works in the mall, was standing outside the back of the mall when she first noticed the tornado over the Ford dealership. She had a front-row seat as it made its way to the mall and went around the parking lot, picking up dirt and blowing it in her face.
This was the second tornado to hit Thompson this week, preceded by a brief, weak tornado that touched down in the Southwood Plaza parking lot Thursday afternoon between Baaco's Pizza and the Shell gas station, as spotted by Catherine Spence and confirmed by Environment Canada.
"After consulting with the lead meteorologist we concluded that it was a brief weak tornado based on the information we received from Catherine, the witness," said Neil Fogg, an Environment Canada storm forecaster and meteorologist in Winnipeg.
Spence told the Thompson Citizen the cloud began at the western end of the parking lot, near Baaco's Pizza, and swept across the lot, picking up and re-distributing dirt and litter as it went along.
The cloud then made its way past the Shell gas station, where the roof above the fuel pumps prevented it from touching the ground, and was heading over the trees in the direction of Thompson General Hospital before it disappeared.

Speaking from Winnipeg, Environment Canada forecaster Dave Carlsen explained the cause of the tornado as “we had a fairly unstable air mass, and when you get a lot of rising motions in the air, that causes thunderstorms, and today it looks like those happened to spin up eddies that were already in the air and cause tornadoes.”

It wasn’t just Thompson that saw odd weather either – “we’ve had a bit of a busy day across the Prairies,” Carlsen said, “this is July and it’s the peak season for severe weather.”

While two of these minor tornadoes in such a short time span might seem odd, Carlsen allowed that “in Thompson itself it’s not all that common,” but also suggested that “this probably happens a lot more often than we’re aware of, it’s just that these ones happened in Thompson, so we heard about them. If they happen 50 kilometres outside of town, we don’t hear about it, and there’s a lot more unpopulated area around Thompson than there is populated area around Thompson.”
Spence estimates that the entire Thursday incident lasted about 2˝ minutes. Neither tornado caused any injuries or any major damage.