Five tornadoes touched down on July 19 in surrounding areas
Posted Jul 23, 2020 10:00:00 AM.
Researchers say five tornadoes had landed in surrounding areas earlier this week, and they say the wacky weather is not unusual.
Dr. David Sills is the executive director of the Northern Tornadoes Project at Western University. He says the five tornadoes touched down in nearby areas on July 19.
“The list is Belmont, Lucan, Beachville, Gads Hill and Blyth. The water spout that was confirmed was over the Southern part of Lake Huron.”
He says there was some damage caused as a result of the tornadoes.
“Most of the damage was to farms and to trees. There were a couple barns in large sheds that were blown over or blown down. Some green bins that were toppled.”
Dr. Sills says these storms come around at least twice a year.
“We had one storm come through on June 10th that produced a number of tornadoes again, a big line of storms. Part of the course in southern Ontario is getting these big lines of storms come through. The difference is that we've got a project now dedicated to tracking down the tornadoes occurring with these things. So that's why we're seeing the higher numbers.”
He says the team watching the storms is unique in the world and made of meteorologists and wind engineers.
“That's what makes the project unique pretty much in the world is that there's this combined expertise of meteorology and wind engineering that's going after tornadoes across the country. So we've got professors, grad students, their input and from the community as well, citizen science. It's really a community project to find all these tornadoes.”
Update 1 – Another tornado & downburst from Jul 19. Using data gathered by @justinmweather, @westernuNTP is able to confirm an EF1 tornado in the Blyth area (135 km/h, 6.7 km long, 50 m wide, see photos) & an EF0 downburst in the Brussels/Cranbrook area (5 km x 11 km). #onstorm pic.twitter.com/aovx5Fuiax
— Northern Tornadoes Project (@westernuNTP) July 22, 2020
Final update today – the @westernuNTP survey team confirmed that a tornado caused EF1 damage at Gads Hill on Jul 19. Max wind 150 km/h, length 4.2 km, max width 400 m. Damage to a farm and trees.
Tomorrow morning the team will investigate damage in the Thedford area. #onstorm pic.twitter.com/7hTe13j57D
— Northern Tornadoes Project (@westernuNTP) July 22, 2020
