Landspout tornado swirling near Calgary is 1st of season for Prairies

It's only April, but Southern Albertans got their first taste of the summer storm season this week.

Environment Canada has confirmed alandspout tornado formed east of Calgaryon Wednesday afternoon the first of the tornado seasonfor Alberta and the Prairies.

It happened nearthe intersection of Highway 1 and Stoney Tr. N.E.at approximately 3:50 p.m.

• Did you see the tornado yesterday? Send your videos and pictures tocalgaryphotos@cbc.ca

"The wind was blowing really loud. It was scaryand beautiful at the same time," saidSherwinMoseley, whopulled overtofilm the striking weather event.

He told CBC News that if he been driving his 4WD vehicle, he would have gotten closer.

"I wanted to go closer, but I didn't drive my SUV that day I was driving a car and I would have had togo off-roadto get closer."

It'sprobably a good thingthat Moseleykept his distance.

While landspout tornadoesare not powerful enough to send you to the Land of Oz they're not exactly safe.

"They could toss you around a bit," said Dan Kulak, a meteorologist with Environment Canada in Edmonton.

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"There have been instances of these events with wind speeds in excess of 100 km/h on a very, very local scale. So you have to respect these things."

On average, Alberta gets 15 tornadoes a year but only had seven in 2015.

According to Environment Canada, having a twister touch down in April is notunheard of but it is earlier than usual.

Tornadoes generally start appearing in May andpeak in July.

Landspouttornadoes vs.dust devils

Environment Canada has also confirmed that twodust devils formed on April 13 the firstoccurred nearBalzacand the second happened on theSiksikaFirst Nation, nearArrowwood.

Dust devils and landspouts are sudden, circulating columns of air that suck up dust.

"Air rises when it's being heated from the sun and it stretches vertically," Kulak said.It's like a figure skater pulling their arms in. If they have their arms out they're going slow and if they spin and they pull their arms in, they speed up."

Alandspoutis considered atornadobecause itmakescontact with both the clouds and thesurface of the ground.

Dust devils are whirlwinds that take shape from the ground upbecause of contrasts in air temperature.

Kulaksaid these kind ofweather phenomenahappenall the time, but areonly visible to the naked eye when conditions are warm, dry and dusty.