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Saturday night was a turbulent night for the small city of Leamington. When I saw the tornado warnings pop up for the area last night, I noticed with great interest that the city is on land that looks a bit like a tornado. It is south of Leamington where this part of Ontario juts into Lake Ontario giving us the shape of a tornado. I did not get a chance to head down there today to survey the damage, but I managed to read some of the reports and see some of the pictures. Below are some of the pictures:
The first picture was taken by Ron Nelson and the rest of the pictures were taken by Ben Nelms of the Windsor Star. We cannot assume that all the damage shown in the pictures above was the result of a tornado. Yes, tornado warnings were issued, but there were no confirmed tornado sightings. People say they heard the sound of a freight engine last night which is most commonly assumed to be a tornado, but in fact, a funnel cloud can make the same noise with wind and hail in the updraft. The other thing that could cause that noise, and also that kind of damage would be a downburst. This is what I believe could of been the cause to some of the damage there. In basic terms, a downburst is a strong sheet of wind that plummets down or is sucked in from the base or perhaps behind a thunderstorm. Nevertheless, downbursts are dangerous and should not be taken lightly. Below is a picture by Jeff Masters which gives you a good illustration of a downburst:
Now if you were to put this picture in front of the pictures of damage I have up above, we could see how this all could be the result of a downburst. I want to show you a picture of damage caused by a downburst in Northern Ontario:
Do you notice how the trees are bent down as if someone swept their hand through the forest? Do you see how most people might see this picture and assume it is a tornado?
Now the conclusion to the cause of damage in Leamington is still unknown, and it is something the Environment Canada team will have to figure out. I will release the results of their investigation later. Below is the statement Environment Canada has issued:
"AWCN11 CWTO 061336
Weather summary for all of Southern Ontario and
The national Capital region
Issued by Environment Canada Toronto
At 9:40 AM EDT Sunday 6 June 2010.
Southern Ontario thoroughly soaked
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==weather event discussion==
An unseasonably strong low pressure system tracking across the lower
Great Lakes prompted several warnings to be issued for the Windsor
and Chatham areas including tornado and rainfall warnings.
Significant rainfall amounts were recorded throughout much of
Southern Ontario last night with amounts ranging from about 20 to
50 mm. The rain is expected to taper off this morning in
Southwestern Ontario and late this afternoon in Eastern Ontario.
Severe thunderstorms in the Windsor area left their mark on the area
with damage reports relayed from the OPP covering a swath from near
kingsville to Leamington. Environment Canada has sent out a damage
survey team to asses the impacts of last nights storms in the
Windsor to Leamington area
A list of rainfall amounts as of 8 AM appears below.
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Date
Location rainfall amount (mm)
Windsor 52 mm
Harrow 40 mm
Ridgetown 51 mm
London 30 mm
Sarnia 23 mm
Goderich 31 mm
Delhi 35 mm
Welland 39 mm
Vineland 30 mm
Hamilton airport 38 mm
Hamilton (rbg) 26 mm
Toronto 21 mm
Please note that this summary contains the observations at
The time of broadcast and does not constitute an official
And final report of the weather events or the high
Impact events attributed to the weather events."
For those of you who live in Southwestern Ontario, you do not need to worry about severe weather again tonight. There is a chance of thunderstorms there tonight, however it will not be severe in nature.
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