It was windy; it must have been a tornado

The title is perhaps a bit on the glib side, but I hear of it all the time: wind damage occurs somewhere and inevitably we hear "a tornado went through here".

People associate wind damage with tornadoes, not straight-line winds. And this is where education needs to be increased.

A perfect example of this is the other night's storm in Steinbach, where a couple of reports of tornadoes were received, and yet there was no sighting of such a phenomenon, and nor were there pictures of it. This isn't to say that there wasn't a tornado, but based on RADAR and the reports received (wind and rain happening simultaneously, and yes I know that can signift a rain-wrapped tornado but it's not too likely), I won't be convinced until I see pictures.

Just for the record.

And also for the record, imagery shows that a tornado was on the ground to the west of Steinbach, although it was significantly before the time the storm hit Steinbach. I have still seen no evidence of a tornado in Steinbach.