Tornado touched down west of Brandon on Thursday night, Environment Canada says

Environment Canada has confirmed that a tornado did touch down in southwestern Manitoba on Thursday evening.

The twister was on the ground for about 10 to 15 minutes near the town of Alexander, in the Rural Municipality of Whitehead, just before 6 p.m. CT, said Mike Russo, a meteorologist for Environment Canada.

The weather agency hasn't received any reports of damages or injuries at this point.

It has rated the tornado as an EF0 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, the scale Environment Canada uses to rate tornadoes based on wind and damage. It brought winds up to 130 km/h, the agency said.   

Environment Canada issued a tornado warning for southwestern Manitoba area shortly after 5 p.m. Thursday. Photos and videos posted on social media showed funnel clouds that appeared to touch the ground. 

The warnings included areas around the city of Brandon, as well as several rural municipalities in southwestern Manitoba.

After touching down, the tornado passed over Brandon, and the tornado warning was downgraded to a severe thunderstorm just after 7 p.m., Russo said.

This comes just days after two young people were killed when a tornado touched down near Highway 83 and Road 50N in the RM of Pipestone, just south of Virden, throwing them out of their vehicle.

Russo estimated winds were gusting at about 90 km/hr in Brandon during Thursday night's storm. 

All of the storm watches and warnings ended by about 9:30 p.m.