May 12, 2000
Tornadic Thunderstorm
pounds Niagara
(Damage tops $1million)
Click thumbnail
to view:



     The 12th of May, 2000 started off with early morning thunderstorms as a warm front pushed through  [2][3] around 7:30am.  2 people in an automobile garage were struck by lightning in St. Catharines during this storm [put picture here].  The thunder and rain died down by noon and the day became hot and hazy.  By 9:30 pm the lightning started up again off in the distance as Toronto area was hit by the 2nd group of storms, more powerful than the ones earlier in the day.  These severe storms triggered severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings in the U.S. as they moved across from east to west, first entering Southern Ontario around Windsor, and to the north around Grey/Bruce counties.   CAPE[2] values and Lift[2] values were very impressive, as was the 0Z May13 Sounding.  The Weather Network did a great job continually updating us with warnings and precautionary measures. 
    While the storm approached from the northwest it produced a great display of anvil crawlers, cloud-to-cloud (CC) and cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning over the lake [23:14][23:50][01:28] .  Rain and winds here in St. Catharines were moderate, but to the east in Niagara-on-the-Lake (NOTL) the storm was very intense.  A tornado warning was issued, and a tornado was reported by many people to Niagara Regional Police (NRP) to be on the ground around the rural area of Lakeshore and Steward roads in NOTL.  Further reports of funnel sightings over the lake were received the following day.  One of the most exciting sights was the rapid movement and expansion of scud clouds overhead.  The night sky background was pitch black so the scuds appeared white right above your head, and with the constant flashes of lightning you could see them expand and move in to each other right before your eyes.  I captured some amazing footage of one rapidly growing scud shooting straight up then curling around into itself again as it pulled in the scud behind it.
    As for the damage in NOTL, the most intense area of damage was 5 miles away from the reported tornado, directly in the "Olde Town" (tourist area) of NOTL.  I drove out at 6:30am the next morning (Saturday, the 13th) and could see no signs of damage where the tornado was reported, although that area was composed of empty farm fields as the crops had not yet begun to grow.  As I headed in towards the town, straight-line wind damage became apparant with scattered trees down, a tipped trailer, a stop sign ripped from its post, and debris in fields, although these were scattered/isolated incidents.  I entered the Olde Town around 7:30am and there was an area of maybe 8 blocks where the damage was very intense (pictures listed below).  Large mature trees uprooted, roofs ripped from buildings, houses with large trees on them, parts of house structures ripped and thrown considerable distances.  The entire townsfolk were out wandering the streets with their morning coffees and their cameras, talking to each other over the sounds of portable electric generators and chainsaws.  The Hydro company had many of the roads blocked off as they worked to move downed power lines, transformers, and hydro poles off the streets.  To date this is the most intense damage I've seen in the area.  Winds were estimated at over 120km/hr by Environment Canada.  E.C. confirmed the main damage area was caused by straight line winds, and the reported tornado has been left unconfirmed as it (possibly) occurred over empty farm land and there was no way to determine wind direction.
Watches/Warnings
 10:45pm Radar
 11:15pm Radar
 00:15am Radar

Damage photos from "Olde Town" Niagara-on-the-Lake.  Click thumbnail for full-size image:
(Please take the time to view them - they took me ages to scan/touch-up/re-size/post! )

NOTE: all fallen trees and branches were on the ground pointing to the south (giving evidence of straight line winds).  There were numerous reports to the NRP of a tornado but the location of that was 4-5 miles to the WSW of the pictures below and damage pictures were not possible because if it did occur, the given location was open farmland composed of empty soil.  Thus, there was no trees/vegetation to help in observing wind direction.






WOCN10 CWTO 131002
GENERAL WEATHER STATEMENT ISSUED BY ENVIRONMENT CANADA. REGIONAL CENTRE TORONTO ONTARIO.
6.02 AM EDT SATURDAY 13 MAY 2000.

 SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ROARED ACROSS SOUTHERN ONTARIO LAST EVENING PRODUCING TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS..STRONG WINDS..INTENSE LIGHTNING.. AND PERHAPS A COUPLE OF TORNADOES.

 THE INTENSE THUNDERSTORM COMPLEX SPAWNED A NUMBER OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCHES AND WARNINGS AND EVEN A COUPLE OF TORNADO WARNINGS ACROSS THE DISTRICT.

 THE TABLE BELOW SHOWS THE REPORTS RECEIVED BY ENVIRONMENT CANADA AS OF 5.30 AM THIS MORNING..AND WILL BE UPDATED UPON RECEIPT OF MORE REPORTS.  PLEASE NOTE THAT SOME OF THE TIME OCCURRENCES LISTED BELOW ARE UNCONFIRMED/APPROXIMATE.
 

MOUNT FOREST 8.00 PM WIND GUST 123 KM/H
HARRISTON 8.00 PM WIND GUST 80 KM/H
10 MM HAIL
ZERO VISIBILITY IN RAIN
KITCHENER  9.00 PM 12 MM HAIL
GUELPH 9.00 PM MARBLE SIZE HAIL SOME 1+ INCH
BRAMPTON 9.30 PM 12MM HAIL
TORONTO 10.30 PM 30-40 MM STANDING WATER
CARS STRANDED DUE TO FLOOD AT HWYS 400/7
DON VALLEY PKWY CLOSED - FLOOD
NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE 11.00 PM POSSIBLE TORNADO
HYDRO DOWN
MANY TREES DOWN
TORONTO 12.00 AM 16 MINUTE WIND SQUALL 75 KM/H
LAKESHORE-TORONTO 12.00 AM CAR BUMPED/MOVED SIDEWAYS
GARDINER EXPRESSWAY LOST CHUNKS OF PAVEMENT
TORONTO 1.00 AM DON VALLEY PKWY CLOSED - RIVER FLOOD

I'll have a bunch of video captures and movies to download posted here very soon.  I'll post to the wx-chase-can list when the additions are complete!