Total chases  :   6
Total distance:   525 km
Total time      :    12hr, 14min

Date:  August 4th - severe thunderstorms, 3 tornados (F?, F1, F2)
Areas:  St. Catharines, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Thorold, Fonthill, Pelham, Welland, West Lincoln
Distance:  258km
Chase time:  7hr, 55min

    A cold front reacted with the unstable airmass triggering localized severe storms, and producing tornados in Flamborough, Hamilton, and Port Burwell.  Click here to go to a page about these storms! (photos & info)
Date:  July 31st - severe thunderstorm
Areas:  St. Catharines
Distance:  15km
Chase time: 1hr, 15min
    A hot and humid tropical airmass dominated southern Ontario for the past week giving high humidex readings.  A cold front came through from the north beginning early in the day, triggering severe thunderstorms ahead of it.  I went with my buddy Chris to Municiple Beach in north-end St. Catharines to watch the storms approach across the lake, and managed to get a great video shot of the preceeding gust front as it picked up sand and dirt, hurling it deep into the neighborhoods around the shore of the Lake.  5 people were reportedly struck by lightning during these storms, 1 person was killed.
Here's 2 RealVideo files from this chase:
 Click here to see a man caught in the gust front!
 Click here to experience a *very* close lightning strike!
Date:  July 24th - tornadic supercell
Areas:  Niagara-on-the-Lake
Distance:  54 km
Chase time: 1hr, 25min

    *Unbelievable* chase.  I have 5 web pages with photos on it:  Click here to see this storm!!
Date:  July 7th
Areas: Thorold, Niagara-on-the-Lake
Distance: 104 km
Chase time: 2hr, 10min
    A potentially strong cell popped up south of me in the Fonthill area.  I headed out straight after work down Hwy.406 and intercepted it sooner than I expected as it was moving towards me.  There was heavy rain with minimal thunder, and no visible lightning.  I followed the storm towards Niagara Falls but the storm itself wasn't organized and was basically just releasing a lot of moisture as rain...

Date:  July 6th - Severe thunderstorm
Areas:  Niagara-on-the-Lake, Niagara Falls, Thorold
Distance: 98 km
Chase time: 2hr, 29min

    A hot tropical airmass hovered over Southern Ontario bringing humidex readings as high as 49C in some areas.  A cold front pushed through from the north which mixed with the very unstable conditions bringing severe thunderstorms.  I spent the morning watching radar and sat. images, and noticed good CAPE (2000+) and Lift (-5 to -7) values.  The cold front began to move through showing up fairly weak on radar, but then began to rapidly explode as it passed Toronto and headed out over the lake towards Niagara.  A severe thunderstorm warning was issued by Environment Canada for the regional municipalities of Niagara, Hamilton-Wentworth, and Haldiman-Norfolk, with the Niagara warning being issued at 1:59pm.  I had already got all my gear ready and was on the road by 2:05pm.  The squall line ahead of the front was moving NW-SE so I drove out to Hwy.55 in Niagara-on-the-Lake, trying to stay ahead of the storm clouds which was not possible - they were building rapidly directly above me and the sky ground around me was getting darker and darker by the second.  I realized that this storm was going to overtake me if I stayed on the same course so I headed back the opposite direction for a few kilometers and managed to find a 'safe pocket' where it was relatively calm, and grabbed some shots of the cloud towers as they passed in front of me.  I found a great vantage point (near Concession 6 / Hwy. 55) where it was very flat and open, and I could see the dark core of the storm, being lit up by lots of CG lightning. There were some great cloud formations with very well defined low bases, areas of severely high precipitation that brought traffic to standstills, nice lightning, and booming thunder.   Pictures of this chase (vidcaps and still photos) can be found here!!

Date: June 2nd
Areas: Thorold, Welland, Niagara Falls
Distance: 82 km
Chase time: 2 hrs
Hot and humid weather blanketed most of Southern Ontario as a cold front pushed through.  A nice cell popped up around Port Colbourne so I headed out down the 406 then drove around some smaller highways in the P.Colbourne area but it must have dissipated before I got there :(  Env.Canada was forcasting strong to severe t-storms but all we had here was a lot of rain.
Date: May 18th, 1999
Departure time: 5:25pm
Chase ended:  6:45pm
Chase time: 1hr, 20min
Distance:  70km
For full chase log with photos, click here!


Date: May 7th
Areas: Fort Erie, St. Catharines
Distance: 102 km
Time:  1hr 35min

    At around 1pm I noticed a small localized, yet very colorful cell heading towards Fort Erie from the NY border, so I headed out by 1:25pm.  As I was driving down the QEW just past the falls it became -very- windy as I approached the Cb - probably the area of downdrafts - and my back window blew STRAIGHT OFF!  I have *no* idea how this happened, but by the time I got into Fort Erie it was raining, and there was a nice Cb with a dark HP base just over the border, so it looks like I just missed it.  Seeing as I was driving around without a back windshield I figured it best to return back to St. Catharines.  As I was coming over the St. Catharines Skyway (that big bridge on the QEW that goes over the Welland Canal) I noticed scud clouds -all over- the city.  Cloud ceiling was pretty high, but dark, with the scuds about half way between the ceiling and the ground.  I got home and quickly put big sheets of plastic over my empty back window and right in the middle of it it started to rain with some nice thunder above me.  'Got the car covered just in time and headed into the house...  The thunder lasted from about 3pm to 3:35pm, with minimal rain and no visible lightning.


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