Quickly after a tornado was reported by storm chasers near Alexander, MB around 5:42pm CDT, the storm moved east and slammed Brandon head-on. This was the tornado warning at the time:
Warnings
6:39 PM CDT Thursday 13 August 2020 Tornado warning in effect for:
City Of Brandon
R.m. Of Elton Incl. Forrest
At 5:59 p.m. Cdt, environment canada meteorologists are tracking a severe thunderstorm that is possibly producing a tornado. Damaging winds, large hail and locally intense rainfall are also possible. This thunderstorm is 15 km west of brandon and is traveling east at 30 km/h. This thunderstorm has a history of producing tornadoes and is still capable of producing another tornado. This is a dangerous and potentially life-threatening situation. Take cover immediately, if threatening weather approaches. If you hear a roaring sound or see a funnel cloud, swirling debris near the ground, flying debris, or any threatening weather approaching, take shelter immediately. Go indoors to a room on the lowest floor, away from outside walls and windows, such as a basement, bathroom, stairwell or interior closet. Leave mobile homes, vehicles, tents, trailers and other temporary or free-standing shelter, and move to a strong building if you can. As a last resort, lie in a low spot and protect your head from flying debris. Lightning kills and injures canadians every year. Remember, when thunder roars, go indoors! Tornado warnings are issued when imminent or occurring thunderstorms are likely to produce or are producing tornadoes. Please continue to monitor alerts and forecasts issued by environment canada. To report severe weather, send an email to mbstorm@canada.ca or tweet reports using #mbstorm.
The storm slammed downtown Brandon with heavy rain and damaging winds. Below is the view of webcams in Brandon 10mins apart:
So what happened? An advancing cold front combined with interactions with outflow boundaries caused explosive supercell development near Virden, which ultimately led to this gorgeous tornado near Alexander. Below is a video showing the satellite and radar loop before, during and after the tornado:
The tornado warning for Brandon has since then been lifted, but watches/warnings remain in effect. For the latest watches/warnings head here: https://weather.gc.ca/warnings/index_e.html?prov=mb