May 31, 1998 - Tornado warnings/watches,
Severe Thunderstorm warning/watches
(1st image unknown location, 2nd image Toronto Star front
page picture, 3rd image in St. Catharines - click images to enlarge)
A strong squall line passed through in the morning. Downed trees
and broken windows in York region where numerous sightings of a tornado
were reported. Some weak to loud thunder occured here in St. Catharines
around 3:30-4:30pm, minimal visible lightning. Tornado in the Holland
Marsh area (wherever that is). 1-2cm hail reported in Niagara (I
saw none) and ping-pong ball sized hail northeast of Leamington.
Wind gusts up to 120 km/hr. Widespread damage: half of one house
ripped apart, trees/branches down, around 130,000 people lost power (according
to newspaper). This storm caused at least 3 deaths in Michigan, and
produce a tornado south of here in Mechanicville, NY. Today was the
13th anniversary of the 1985 Barrie tornado. * This storm is now being
classified as a killer storm - apparently strong wind gusts are being blamed
for a boat capsizing which caused the drowning death of a teenager on the
Severn River.
Temperature change after cold front: 27C -> 17C
5:27am
- Tornado watch (Niagara + other parts)
7:44am
- Severe thunderstorm warning (Niagara + other parts)
9:00am
- Tornado warning (York/Durham)
2:58pm
- Severe thunderstorm warning (Niagara)
6:52pm
- All watches/warnings by Environment Canada
Stormwatch warning map: 2:00pm
, 3:00pm
, 6:00pm
Stormwatch closeup....: 5:00pm
(reports: 38 tornado, 148 hail, 35 wind gust, 241
wind damage, 34 injury)
May 30, 1998 - South Dakota/Iowa killer tornado
<- Click on this image for full newspaper article! Yah,
this page is supposed to be for Ontario storms but this storm on the 30th
moved into Ontario the next day (info above) so here's a few radar images
of it's intensity. This storm levelled the town of Spencer, South Dakota,
killing 6 and injuring 150 (half the town's population).
3pm
- Radar loop
Newspaper
article on the tornado
May 29, 1998 - Thunderstorm with areas of Severe Thunderstorms
A massive storm front began the night before in the north-central part
of the States, causing severe thunderstorm warnings and tornado watches
over several areas. This group of storms moved into Southern Ontario
overnight and Niagara saw the skies grow dark at 9:30am. Heavy rain
and hail occured in other parts of the province. Thunder and lightning
accompanied by heavy rain occurred for a short while around 10:30am, then
the storm quickly blew over and dissipated. This group of storms
is being blamed for 1 death in Ontario.
6am
- Severe thunderstorm watch (Niagara)
12pm
- Severe thunderstorm watch ended (Niagara)
2:36pm
- Severe thunderstorm watch (Niagara)
9am
- Severe thunderstorm warning (Lennox/Addington County)
3pm
- Radar Summary - 3 severe watch boxes in the States, 1 meso, squall
line
3pm
- Doppler - good image of squall line
May 19, 1998 - Severe thunderstorm
Clouds began forming around 5:20pm here in St. Catharines, with the
first rumbling thunder around 5:45. Started off with small rumblings
of thunder and intensified. Severe t-storm watch issued at 5:38pm
for Niagara. Temperature before the storm was 33 and dropped down to 20.
HP storm with some heavy periods of rain. Golfball sized hail reported
to the north in Oakville. Lightning/thunder lessened down around
6:45pm. Lightning intensifying around 7:30pm. Severe t-storm
watch for my area upgraded to a severe t-storm warning at 7:58pm.
I know the guys at Env. Canada are working hard, but this storm started
weakening
-before- the watch was upgraded to a warning. The sun was already
starting to punch through from the north-west and the storm moved away
to the south, THEN they upgraded it to a warning, far after the storm was
at it's most intense stages. Severe t-storm warning ended by Environment
Canada at 8:45pm.
5pm
- Watches & Warnings issued by Env. Canada
5:38pm
- Watch updated to Severe Thunderstorm
8pm
- St. Catharines Watch upgraded to Severe Thunderstorm Warning
Radar summary: 3pm
, 4pm
, 5pm
, 6pm
, 7pm
Doppler image: 3pm
, 6pm
, 7pm
March 28 - killer storm:
1st severe storm of the season - A squall line moved into Southern
Ontario from the States. Wind speeds of 100 km/h were recorded, and
in some areas were as high as 120 km/h (102 km/hr here in St. Catharines).
A teenaged boy was killed when strong winds knocked over a wall he was
taking refuge behind. This was a tornadic storm as it produced a
tornado in northern Illinois before it crossed into Ontario. A funnel
cloud was reported in Orangeville, but did not touch down, and there were
no other reports of tornadic activity. The rain here was unbelievable
with the gusts. It was almost horizontal, and everything outside
just looked like a grey mist was ripping through everything. I did
have all sorts of data images for this storm but my hard drive kicked out
on me and I lost everything on it...
<Rainbow after the storm
7 days before this thunderstorm we had snow! :
< Back
to the Storms page!
