2008 Storm Season Entries

2008 STORM DATA (listings below are for St. Catharines - personally witnessed storms only)TA (listings below are for St. Catharines - personally witnessed storms only) = Warning = Watch (tornado watch/warnings will be listed in text)
Date	Time	Cloud Tops	Description
Apr.11	23:00	30kft	light rain, weak thunder/lightning
May.26	10:00	30kft	light rain, weak thunder/lightning
May.31	00:30	45kft	light rain, frequent lightning, minimal thunder
May.31	14:15	50kft (meso)	heavy downpours, frequent lightning/thunder
Jun.5	22:15	40kft	frequent lightning with CC/CGs, minimal wind/rain (lightning photos here)
Jun.8	19:16 Tornado Warning (no tornado)	45kft	Weak dissipating tstorm, weak thunder, no visible lightning, no rain, no wind. Tornado warning issued.
Jun.8	20:30	50kft	Severe thunderstorm - sky went dark out over lake followed by strong winds, heavy rain, very frequent lightning and loud thunder. Lots of CC and CG lightning. Many low scud clouds and horizontal cloud shear visible.
Jun.9	23:00	40kft	faint thunder, minimal lightning. Light rain/winds.
Jun.10	00:30	40kft	moderate thunder/lightning/winds/rain.
Jun.13	21:30	45kft	Intense continuous lightning/thunder. Gusty winds, heavy downpours. (lightning photos here)
Jun.15	21:30	35kft	Intense lightning, heavy rain, light winds (lightning photos here)
Jun.16	00:00	35kft	Intense lightning, heavy rain, light winds (lightning photos here)
Jun.16	12:30	40kft	Very close lightning, 'canon/explosion' thunder from close CGs, moderate rain, light wind.(photos here)
Jun.23	12:30	40kft	Tiny little cell put down a brief burst of heavy rain and weak-moderate thunder.
Jun.28	02:30	?	moderate thunder/lightning, moderate rain, light winds
Jun.29	12:45	40kft	Torrential downpours and very visible rain core while chasing, constant thunder, strong lightning, large hail reported at Niagara Airport, and in St. Catharines (Walmart on Welland Ave.) Warning.
Jul.11	06:00	35kft	Heavy rain, loud thunder and close lightning strikes (but not many)
Jul.16	06:30	?	Light thunder/rain.
Jul.17	03:45	35kft	Frequent lightning, moderate rain, light winds.
Jul.19	14:00	25kft	Cell 1: Light rain/thunder. Cell 2: heavy rain, moderate wind, frequent thunder, very close CG lightning producing 'cannon' thunder (big 'BANG!' sounding like a truck just hit the house)
Jul.21	14:27	*no storm*	No storm, no rain, blue sky.
Jul.22	22:15	45kft	Continuous lightning, very active low-level cloud structure. (lightning photos here) Earlier in the day this system produced a tornado (pictures are online including airborne debris) in Welland in the afternoon.
Jul.23	00:45	35kft	Small but very circular (on radar) cell passed through producing frequent lightning
Jul.23	12:45	35kft	Moderate thunder/lightning. Heavy rain, light wind.
Jul.24	07:15	30kft	Very tiny storm on radar put out a LOUD show. Lots of close CG lightning and very loud thunder. Heavy rain for long periods.
Jul.24	14:15	35kft	Moderate to heavy rain, CG lightning. Light to medium winds. 2 reports of funnels in Smithville.
Jul.26	09:30	30kft	Weak storm, light rain, but produced some close lightning and loud thunder.
Jul.26	14:30	40kft	Strong storm out on lake near Hamilton dissipated as it approached. Light wind/thunder, sprinkle of rain.
Jul.30	10:50	35kft	Weak storm
Aug.05	18:00	50kft	Moderate thunder, little visible lightning, moderate rain, no wind.
Aug.07	17:30	41kft	Weak but continuous thunder, moderate visible lightning, light winds. Storm developed to the south and continued to move south so we just got the back-end of it here. Not sure why a warning was issued half an hour after the storm was past the city.
Aug.09	15:30	40kft	Severe storm put out some active low-level cloud formations and some nice scud clouds. Light rain, moderate wind. Moderate thunder/lightning. Time-lapse video in videos section.
Aug.11	19:30	30kft
Aug.17	06:00	?	Some close lightning and very loud thunder, light winds, moderate rain.
Aug.24	13:45	40kft	Moderate rolling thunder, moderate rain, light wind. Power went out.
Oct.26	18:00	25kft	Strong thunder/lightning. Very dark sky, strong wind gusts.
2007 Ontario Tornado Listing (F# = confirmed, F? = probable)
May.26	?	Windy Lake Provincial Park (near Sudbury)	F0
May.26	?	Reynolds Lake (NE of North Bay)	F0
Jun.6	18:00	Sault Ste. Marie	possible F0-F1 Severe thunderstorms passed through the Sault Ste Marie area on Friday June 6 near 6 PM EDT. Damage was reported at a tractor dealership near echo bay. Photographic evidence suggests most of The damage was rated as Fujita scale zero (f zero) associated With winds up to 115 km/h. However a roof was torn off a warehouse suggesting winds in the Fujita one range (f1) between 120 to 170 km/h.
Jun.8	17:00	Lucan (north of London)	F1 UPON REVIEW OF PHOTOGRAPHS AND CONVERSATIONS WITH AN EYEWITNESS. THIS TORNADO'S PATH WAS ABOUT 1 KM LONG AND 10 TO 20 METRES WIDE. THE MOST SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE WAS THE TOTAL ROOF REMOVAL OF A SHED. THIS TORNADO IS THE THIRD TORNADO OF THE SEASON SO FAR IN ONTARIO.
Jun.8	18:00	30km east of Sarnia, hwy.402	F0 THE TORNADO OCCURED ONLY BRIEFLY AND DID NO APPRECIABLE DAMAGE. IT HAS BEEN RATED AS A FUJITA SCALE ZERO TORNADO - PEAK WINDS UP TO 110 KM/H - WHICH IS THE WEAKEST ON THE FUJITA SCALE THAT GOES UP TO 5. FUJITA SCALE 5 TORNADOES HAVE WINDS BETWEEN 420 AND 510 KM/H.
Jun.22	?	NE of Bryanston (near London)	F0 Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9xa11KC32M
Jul.22	afternoon	Welland	(photo credit: Sandra) F0 Photos from different storm spotters in the area show funnel as well as airborne debris. CONFIRMED TORNADO IN WELLAND ON TUESDAY JUNE 22. ------------------------------------------------------------- ==WEATHER EVENT DISCUSSION== LATE ON THE AFTERNOON OF JULY 22ND..AN EAST TO WEST LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPED OVER THE NIAGARA PENINSULA IN RESPONSE TO AN UNSTABLE ATMOSPHERE AND SURFACE CONVERGENCE AS A RESULT OF NORTHEAST WINDS OFF OF LAKE ONTARIO. ONE OF THE THUNDERSTORM CELLS WAS OBSERVED TO FORM A FUNNEL CLOUD IN THE VICINITY OF WOODLAWN ROAD IN WELLAND. PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE OF SHEET METAL BEING THROWN ABOUT FROM A NEARBY CONSTRUCTION SITE..AND FIRST HAND REPORTS OF WIND ROTATION AT THE SURFACE..HAS LED ENVIRONMENT CANADA TO CONCLUDE THAT A WEAK TORNADO WAS PRESENT AROUND 5.30 PM. NO OTHER SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE WAS REPORTED. THIS TORNADO HAS THUS BEEN ASSESSED AS FUJITA SCALE ZERO (WIND SPEEDS OF UP TO 110 KM/H). THIS REPRESENTS THE 7TH OFFICIAL TORNADO IN ONTARIO THIS SEASON. THE SUMMER SEVERE WEATHER SEASON RUNS FROM LATE APRIL UNTIL EARLY OCTOBER. ON AVERAGE ONTARIO RECEIVES ABOUT 11 TORNADOES PER SEASON. ------------------------------------------------------------- TIME(LCL) LOCATION EVENT DESCRIPTION 5.30 PM WELLAND CONFIRMED F-ZERO TORNADO (VICINITY OF WOODLAWN ROAD)
Jul.27		Coboconk (n. Balsam Lake, East of Lake Simcoe)	F1 (photo credit: Krista Lamb) AWCN11 CWTO 292149 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR ALL OF SOUTHERN ONTARIO AND THE NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION ISSUED BY ENVIRONMENT CANADA TORONTO AT 5:24 PM EDT TUESDAY 29 JULY 2008. CONFIRMED TORNADO IN NORTH OF COBOCONK ON SATURDAY JULY 26. ------------------------------------------------------------- ==WEATHER EVENT DISCUSSION== AT APPROXIMATELY 2:30 PM SATURDAY JULY 26TH A TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN JUST NORTH OF COBOCONK IN THE SILVER LAKE AREA. THE MOST SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE WAS TO AN AREA OF TREES JUST WEST OF SILVER LAKE. THE STAND WAS DECIMATED WITH TREES BEING UPROOTED AND SNAPPED OFF AT HEIGHT. A DAMAGE SURVEY TEAM FROM ENVORONMENT CANADA HAS ASSESSED THE TORNADO AS F-1 ON THE FUJUTA SCALE WITH WINDS BETWEEN 120 AND 170 KILOMETRES PER HOUR. THIS REPRESENTS THE 8TH OFFICIAL TORNADO IN ONTARIO THIS SEASON. THE SUMMER SEVERE WEATHER SEASON RUNS FROM LATE APRIL UNTIL EARLY OCTOBER. ON AVERAGE ONTARIO RECEIVES ABOUT 11 TORNADOES PER SEASON. ------------------------------------------------------------- DATE TIME(LCL) LOCATION EVENT DESCRIPTION 2.30 PM COBOCONK AREA CONFIRMED F-1 TORNADO
Jul.30	19:00	Hickson (n. of Woodstock)	Article here.

RIGHT CLICK the download links and save to your computer, then play from there. (DIVX codec required)

Time-lapse of severe thunderstorm's lower clouds as the roll through [download]

Aug.7, time-lapse of severe thunderstorm building up [download] (6.1mb)
Aug.5, time-lapse clouds at edge of severe thunderstorm [download] (6.9mb)

Photos of tornado with debris, and soon after touching down on to water.
Shadow Lake, ON (north of Coboconk, ENE of Orillia) - Photo source: cottagelife.com (courtesy: Bill and Robert Bible)

AUG.5 - SEVERE STORMS
Severe t-storm warning for this area right now. Only moderate rain came from the first cell, but the more intense parts of the cell were about 5-7 miles to the south. More cells approaching (19:00).

AUG.3 - TIME LAPSE CLOUD VIDEOS
3 new videos made up yesterday of some cloud formations as they rolled through...

JUL.22 - CONTINUOUS LIGHTNING STORM PASSES TO THE NORTH
A very nice LP storm (for once!) passed by the shore between 10pm-midnight tonight. Severe thunderstorm warning in effect.
Click thumbnails below for images:

JUL.31 - POSSIBLE TORNADO IN HICKSON YESTERDAY (Hickson is north of Woodstock)

JUL.22 - Tornado drops down in Welland, ON
A probable tornado touched down in Welland this afternoon (south of St. Catharines in the heart of Niagara). EC confirmation here.
Click thumbnails below for images:

(photo credit: Ashlie Luska)

JUL.9 - FIRST KILLER STORM OF THE YEAR IN ONTARIO YESTERDAY
A Toronto man was killed by lightning yesterday while standing under a tree during an intense thunderstorm. The 28yr old man was found by a nearby resident and pronounced dead at hospital.

I was able to get out on the road for this one (an excuse to use my new camcorder). Very visible core as I approached it from the outside, but unfortunately it turned HP very quick. Large hail reported in the area I was in (western Niagara on the Lake - Stewart Rd. area). Severe thunderstorm warning issued. Click on the thumbnails below for larger images (video captures) :

Click here for video!
(right-click and select "Save Target" to save to your computer and play from there in order to avoid playing problems)

JUN.25 - PHOTOS FROM JUN.22 TORNADO
Thanks to James Syme for sending in these photos:

JUN.23 - TORNADO YESTERDAY
A touchdown out side of St. Mary's, ON (near London) occurred yesterday getting much media attention on local weather news.

JUN.16 - ANOTHER LIGHTNING SHOW LAST, NIGHT AND YET ANOTHER SEVERE STORM TODAY!

JUN.13 - LIGHTNING SHOW!
Line of cells went through starting around 9:30pm and *really* put on a good lightning show. Constant lightning/thunder. Over 300 strikes per minute was recorded on a person's lightning detector.

JUN.8 - SEVERE THUNDERSTORM @ 8PM (St. Catharines, ON)
Just some shots of the storm as it rolled through... (sorry for the rain drops on the window in the last couple - there's no way I was standing outside to shoot! :)

JUN.5, 2008
Nice small but active cell went through starting at 22:15. Finally some nighttime lightning with clear conditions!

St. Catharines - Grimsby - northern Niagara region
2:20 PM EDT Saturday 31 May 2008
Severe thunderstorm watch for
St. Catharines - Grimsby - northern Niagara region continued

Persons in or near this area should be on the lookout for adverse weather conditions and take necessary safety precautions. Watch for updated statements.
Please refer to the latest public forecasts for further details and continue to monitor the situation through your local radio and television stations or Weatheradio.

MAY.30 - FIRST TORNADO OF THE YEAR!
On May 26th the first Ontario tornadoes of the year occurred at Windy Lake Provincial Park (near Sudbury) and another at Reynolds Lake NE of North Bay. Both have been confirmed as F0 tornadoes. (thanks to Dave Sills for the update)

In other news, it's been a slow start to the year here in Niagara with only a couple of week storms so far. Hopefully we'll get more photos and info up if/when the storm season picks up!

APR.11, 2008 - First thunderstorm of the year!
Nothing huge, but some bright flashes of lightning and weak rain, but it's a start!

FEB.17, 2008
Not much to report on the front lines... balmy above-freezing weather in mid-February isn't something to complain about though! It's been raining all day, but at least it's better than SNOW.