On June 22, 2007, residents of Elie were part of Canadian history as the nation's first-ever F5 tornado ripped through the community.

According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, the tornado touched down around 6:25 p.m. and stayed on the ground for around 35 minutes and tracking about 5.5 km before lifting into the air. Meteorologist Natalie Hasell says it's important to remember when talking about the Fujita or E.F. scale it is a damage-based measurement so if a storm hits a structure and gets damaged, they use it as evidence.

"With that damage, we get an estimate of how strong that storm was but we don't rate what potentially could have happened," says Hasell. "If we take some hypothetical tornado and place it in a field where there is nothing to hit, by default, that storm will be rated low on the Fujita scale."

She adds if a tornado broke out in a more densely populated area and caused significant damage, the level of the storm could be increased.

EF5 tornadoes account for less than one per cent of all tornadoes in the world. After the Elie storm, a few more tornadoes ripped through different parts of Manitoba the next day including Elie and Pipestone.

"Compared to the tornado at Elie, the Pipestone tornado was huge. It was massive," says Hasell. "It was more of a wedge-type Oklahoma-style tornado. It was only rated at F3 at the time and would still probably be rated at F3 now if a similar storm happened because it only made F3 level damage."

Hasell adds if the Pipestone tornado did pass through a populated area, she expects the tornado would have had a higher rating. Fortunately, during the Elie tornado, many families attended a graduation ceremony in a nearby town and those who were home knew to find shelter in basements.

Hasell warns storm season is starting up again in Manitoba and you should be vigilant, especially around funnel clouds.

"It's hard to tell the difference so if you see something that looks like a rotating column of air pendulous (hanging down) from the bottom of a convective cloud, think of it as a potential tornado and seek shelter," says Hasell. "If you don't remember anything else about this...seek shelter; preferably in a well-constructed building where you have electrical and plumbing so that you're safe from the lightning."