Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Angus, Ontario EF-2 tornado

A major EF2 tornado races across Angus, Ontario late Tuesday. (Video Tina Forget)
Severe weather is in the news again across North America as an elongated area of disturbed weather stretches from the US high plains to the Great Lakes. On Monday twin tornadoes smashed into the tiny northeast Nebraska community of Pilger destroying 75 percent of the town and killing two and critically injuring 16. The same system has been producing very heavy rain across southern Alberta with over 100 mm (4 inches) reported in the Pincher Creek area. This is the same portion of Alberta where major flooding started last summer spreading into Calgary. More rain is forecast today as the system lingers.

Complete damage in the tiny Nebraska town of Pilger on Monday. (The Weather Channel)
ONTARIO STORMS
The eastern portion of the front raced through Ontario on Tuesday with widespread severe weather. In the early morning hours, lightning struck four golfers in Stouffville, Ontario, leaving one in critical condition. The quick work of an ICU Nurse nearby saved the mans life as she preformed CPR on the victim. It stresses the point I made in my last blog entry (see below) about how important it is to get indoors at the first threat of any lightning. The system also spawned a major EF-2 tornado around 5:30pm, capable of winds in excess of 200km/h. The tornado swept across a neighborhood of Angus, Ontario near Barrie severely damaging over 30 homes. Evacuations were ordered for 300 people. Roofs and sheds were torn apart, power poles were snapped in half, trees down and a truck flipped on its side. One person was injured according to local media. Environment Canada will be on scene today to determine the exact width and intensity of the tornado. Other regions of Ontario including Hamilton were under tornado warnings. Further east 104km/h winds cut power and toppled trees in Trenton. Heavy rain along the 401 corridor produced dangerous driving conditions with zero visibility in sudden downpours. Over 30,000 Ontario homes were left without power from the storms.

(Global News) Major damage was reported in Angus, Ontario. 

MONTREAL
As the system arrived in Montreal just after midnight early this morning, torrential rain fell with 24mm (1 inch) in less than 1 hour here on L'Ile Perrot. The system has now raced off to the east and is already over Atlantic Canada. More showers and thunderstorms are possible in Ontario and Quebec today along a weak cold front before we see clearing and cooler weather into the weekend. Temperatures will be warm today near 26C before it cools to 22C on Thursday.

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