Hottest Day in 2004
June 9th: 32C (90F) with humidity: 42C (108F) - and yes, that's in the shade.

Storm Deaths of 2004:  1
June 1 Landsdowne man killed during microburst in severe storm from fallen tree a few kms west of the tornado track

2004 STORMS
Click on a thumbnail on the left for more information and pictures

Apr.18, 10:30am - 45,000 ft cloud tops, black skies, strong winds and pea-sized hail.  Loud crackling/booming lighting and thunder after the main part of the rain and wind died down.
DAMAGE:  Large trees crashed through walls and roofs of homes, damage to cars, shingles and roofs ripped from homes, large part of roof ripped off school, debris thrown into nearby field.
May.22, Tornado rips through Mitchell, Ontario.  Click thumbnail on left for full story and pictures.
Jun.01 - severe storm clouds, cumulus clouds, and a nice shelf cloud from a very photogenic day.  Also pics of the King City doppler as well as the Pearson Airport doppler :P
Jun.09 - Thunderstorms occur throughout the day, one of them severe.
Jun.14 - Severe thunderstorms, reports of tornados.

 

2004 Tornado Statistics
Ratings only given to confirmed tornados
F? = confirmed via photos/video, no E.C. confirmation.
Date, Time Location F-Rating Info
May 20
 Caledonia F0  6:40pm, tree damage, minor house damage.
May 22 Mitchell F2  6pm, significant tree damage, house and barn.  For pictures and story go HERE.
May 22 Gads Hill strong F2  6:43pm, significant tree damage, house and barn.
May22 Winthrop F1 Extensive damage to a farm at Winthrop (east of Seaforth)
May 24  Waterloo F0  10:45am, (minor house damage, tree damage, etc)
Jun 09

Ern

 F1  Occurred in afternoon, just west of Mallorytown, significant tree and garage damage, some houses damaged.
Jul.13 near Exeter F0-F1 3 tornado tracks in the Exeter area, two within sight of the radar! Some F0-F1 damage to barns and a drive shed. No rain, hail, lightning at these sites...the storm cores were farther to the south apparently. Will have to look at radar. Lots of pictures and video on these, and none from chasers this time. [info by Dave Sills]
Jul.13 Elmville F0 Minor crop damage.
Jul.13 Brinsley F1 Barn and shed damaged.
Jul.17 north of Goderich F0 Unique event in that the storm was moving from E to W due to the cold low. The storm hit the Huron front and quickly developed rotation at the surface. Just F0 on that one...appears to be another non-supercell tornado event [info by Dave Sills]
Aug.10 many locaitons   Many tornado warnings given throughout multiple locations this day.  Nothing confirmed as of yet.  If you know of confirmations please email me.

2004 St. Catharines Thunderstorm Statistics
In the table below, click on the date if it's underlined for more info on that storm.
Dates will be red for storms with warnings, yellow for storms for which a watch was issued.  The time will be coloured as to the actual intensity of the storm.

Date Time Cell Tops Description
Apr.16 21:30 30,000 Moderate rain/lightning.
Apr.18 10:30 45,000 Skies went black, winds picked up and it rained hard, then was followed by about 10 minutes of pea-sized hail.  Damage in Niagara Falls heard on the scanner, of a large tree collapsing the front of a house.  No injuries reported (thanks Mark)
75 knot wind gust (86 mph or 140 kmh) reported from Niagara Falls NY airport at 11 am (thanks Rob)
In St. Catharines:  Funnel clouds reported, corner of a brick roof ripped off a school, debris thrown into nearby yards, trees uprooted.
DAMAGE:  Large trees crashed through walls and roofs of homes, damage to cars, shingles and roofs ripped from homes, large part of roof ripped off school, debris thrown into nearby field.  Click date for pics.
Apr.19 17:45 30,000 Minimal thunder/lightning but VERY heavy downpour for about 5 minutes.
Apr.21 18:00 30,000 Steady rain, light winds, loud thunder.
April - various dates 3 t-storms I missed (was up north)
May.02 00:15 30,000 Moderate winds, strong thunder/lightning.
May.05 22:45 25,000 Moderate lighting, low winds.
May.08 03:00 40,000 Strong line of t-storms moving west to east.
May.22 21:00 50,000 Very intense winds and lightning/thunder.  Horizontal rain.
May.23 15:00 40,000 Moderate rain and winds, some loud thunder but spaced apart.
Jun.01 16:30 35,000 Very defined shelf cloud to start.  High winds at times, very heavy rain, moderate lightning.  Click date for pics.
Jun.09 14:30 30,000 Towering cumulus grew to dark ominous clouds.  Severe T-Storm watch.  Only minimal thunder.
16:00 40,000 The next thunderstorm at 4pm produced pretty strong winds, rain, very close lightning/thunder, and pea-sized hail.  Click date for pics.
22:40 30,000 Minimal thunder.
Jun.14 00:50 30,000 Small cell passed over quickly but it rained fairly hard.
19:00 30,000 Warning issued at 18:49 but nothing but very minimal thunder.  Very dark over lake, but nothing happening here.  Heavy rain at the end. Moderate winds, but not strong. Storm last until about 20:24.   False warning.  Reports of funnel clouds in various areas across province.
Jun.24 20:50 35,000 Moderate/strong winds, very close lightning/thunder.
Jul.04 18:07 ??? I was up north during this one and missed it.  The front page of Monday's newspaper showed a large tree fallen and crushing a car.  Any info on it from someone in the area would be much appreciated.
Jul.14 15:30 ??? Missed this one - was up north.  Warning given by EC:
A SQUALL LINE OF STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUES TO MOVE EASTWARD ACROSS COTTAGE COUNTRY.  A FEW STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS HAVE ALSO FORMED OVER THE NIAGARA PENINSULA. THESE STORMS MAY CONTAIN WIND GUSTS OF 90 KM/H INTENSE LIGHTNING AND
TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS REDUCING VISIBILITIES TO NEAR ZERO.  HAIL IS ALSO POSSIBLE.
Jul.30 15:00 30,000 Minimal thunder, very heavy rain at times.  Didn't last long.
Jul.31 02:00 30,000 Still continuous rain since the day before, minimal thunder.  Got stronger around 2:20am.
Jul.31 03:45 40,000 Continuous rain constantly, low winds, stronger lightning and thunder than the earlier system.
Aug.03 01:00 30,000 I went down to the lake to get some lightning shots on this one because it was one of the FEW non-rain thunderstorms but but the time I get my tripod ready and got down there it had already moved towards Toronto.
Aug.03 05:00 ??? Slept through so it couldn't have been too strong.
Aug.28 23:00 50,000 Moderate rain, light winds, frequent lightning.
Aug.29 03:45 35,000 Light rain and lightning.
Oct.30 02:25 40,000 Thunder, rain.
Nov.25 00:10 35,000 Bright flash of lightning followed by a BOOM that rattled the windows.  It was the only flash during this heavy rainstorm but at least November didn't go by without at least ONE thunderstorm.

Thunderstorms by Month
Before only a colour was used to designate a severe thunderstorm warning, but many times a warning was issued accompanied by only a weak storm.  So in previous years I've kept records it was hard to tell if the storm was in fact severe just by looking at the table.  An "X" will be placed into the box for thunderstorms if a warning was issued by Environment Canada but no severe t-storm actually occurred, and a "T" into the box if a tornado warning was issued without a tornado actually occurring.  Warnings are defined as "imminent (ie: they WILL occur) or already occurring".  For notes about a storm or a storm watch/warning, a number "eg: 01" will be placed in the box - see the note for that number at the bottom of the table.  Or see the table above for more info and links.

# Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
7                        
6           X            
5                        
4                        
3          

hail

            
2                        
1       hail                

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