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Federal cuts to a weather radar research group will limit the ability of weather forecasters to spot coming tornadoes — like one that recently hit a Winnipeg neighbourhood without any advance alert being issued, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Manitoba warns.
That’s despite $180 million the federal government spent 10 years ago to add 33 new high-quality weather radar systems across Canada, all of which were active as of August 2023 .
The issue is not the new radars, said the U of M’s John Hanesiak, but instead outdated software and algorithms forecasters are left with to interpret what the radars are saying.
And with the loss of the dedicated team, Hanesiak said needed improvements to the software and algorithms likely won’t be implemented.
“We know how to fix the issue,” Hanesiak said, but “with the loss of those people, it just won’t necessarily get done.”
Hanesiak and eight other weather researchers wrote a letter to federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Julie Dabrusin in April, expressing concern over the disbanding of the weather radar research group, operated by Environment and Climate Change Canada.
The group was tasked with ensuring that the national weather radar network “reached its full potential,” according to a letter-writing campaign organized by the weather researchers.
It could help reduce fatalities, injuries and property damage, he said.
In a May 29 response, Dabrusin said under what it has called a “comprehensive expenditure review,” the federal government “identified efficiencies to strengthen the delivery of science.”
But Dabrusin insisted the government will “continue to provide the scientific and technical expertise required to maintain the current radar network.”
CBC contacted Environment and Climate Change Canada last week, but did not receive comment prior to publication.
‘Where was the alert?’
A Winnipeg city councillor says warnings like those the radar system should provide are essential.
Janice Lukes’ Waverley West ward includes the Whyte Ridge area. A tornado swept through the ward on June 29, damaging many homes and destroying one.
Lukes says she only found out about the tornado in the morning.
“I went down the street where the garage had collapsed on the cars,” said Lukes. “It was the weirdest feeling, because the street had shingles all over it.”
Despite many tornado warnings issued earlier in the month when a supercell hit the southern part of the province, no alert was issued before the tornado that rocked Whyte Ridge.
“Nobody knew it was happening,” said Cheryll Matthes, a resident of the neighbourhood. “We abide by those alerts.”
Tornado warnings are issued through the province’s Alert Ready system, which issues alerts for events that are considered to pose a threat to life.
As the official source of weather alerts, Environment and Climate Change Canada has the power to issue weather alerts and warnings within the country.
Lukes said she’s been getting lots of calls from constituents asking why there were no alerts issued.
“I did have a couple people say, you know, using very explicit words, ‘Where was the alert?'”
Hanesiak says that while this particular tornado was tricky to predict, the ability of weather forecasters to see it on the radar was hindered by the outdated software and algorithms being used.
“These are the same algorithms we used for our old radars, and they’re not sufficient — we’re not taking full advantage of our new radars,” said Hanesiak.
Maintaining the existing system isn’t good enough, he said – improvements to the software and algorithms to interpret the data from weather radars are needed.
“The forecasters here in the Winnipeg office are some of the best storm forecasters we have in the country,” Hanesiak said, but, “they’re just hamstrung” by the existing technology.
