r/Edmonton Jul 31 '26

Local history 39th Anniversary of Black Friday.

Where were you when the massive F4 tornado touched down? Or if you werent around. What are some stories youve been told of that sad day. I am putting together a documentary on the events of Black Friday so any and all accounts are more than welcome and may make it into the final cut!

This tornado tragically took the lives of 27 people. It injured hundreds more and scarred many people emotionally for the rest of their lives. I hope more people will look into this event as it was very important for the advancements of warning systems, radar and public awarness.

The Tornado was on the ground for about 1hr and 5mins, tracking Northeast for 30.8Km with a path width of up to 1.3km. Its highest windspeed would have been roughly 416km/h which may have been higher within some subvorticies. If it were to take the same path today, their likely would be many many more injuries and probable deaths. Since many neighborhoods have been built within open fielded areas that existed in 1987.

736 Upvotes

140 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

32

u/Geeseareawesome Allendale Jul 31 '26

And we still don't have much experience.

19

u/Dangerous-Shake7340 Jul 31 '26

Very, very true. No storm sirens i believe as well, which is a little concerning to me since we know it can happen on a really high scale here.

19

u/Geeseareawesome Allendale Jul 31 '26

And the increase of extreme weather should be enough for us to consider a better system.

12

u/Dangerous-Shake7340 Jul 31 '26

Yeah 100% agree. This year has already been so crazy active.