Specific Storm Info

1998 JUNE / JULY STORMS

Below is a list of weather watch/warning advisories issued by Environment Canada for storms in Ontario:

July 29: Killer Squall Line

An overnight squall line brought winds of up to 130 km/hr as it passed through Southern Ontario. 2 people near Bobcaygeon were killed in a trailer park, and damage was reported in numerous other areas. Environment Canada released this on the storm:

..SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OCCURRED LAST NIGHT..

A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS ROARED THROUGH SOUTHERN AND EASTERN ONTARIO LAST NIGHT CAUSING PROPERTY DAMAGE IN SOME LOCALITIES AND TWO FATALITIES NEAR BOBCAYGEON IN HARVEY TOWNSHIP. IT APPEARS THAT A
SQUALL LINE WITH GUSTING STRAIGHT LINE WINDS LIKELY 100 TO 120 KM/H WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR MOST OF THE DAMAGE.

DAMAGE REPORTS INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:
    - SOME TREES DOWN IN WASAGA BEACH.
    - WIND GUSTS TO 80 KM/H IN ORILLIA CAUSING DAMAGE TO TREES AND
      POWER LINES.
    - EXTENSIVE DAMAGE TO A TRAILER PARK NEAR BOBCAYGEON AND TWO
      FATALITIES.
    - WIND DAMAGE TO THE ROOF OF A CHURCH IN WINCHESTER.
    - DAMAGE TO POWER LINES NEAR PERTH IN LANARK COUNTY.
    - TREES DOWNED AND A BOAT DAMAGED IN THE LAKE MAZINAW AREA.

TWO REPRESENTATIVES OF ENVIRONMENT CANADA DETERMINED THAT STRAIGHT LINE WIND GUSTS OF 120 TO 130 KM/H WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR ALMOST ALL THE DAMAGE IN THE BOBCAYGEON AREA. SOME VERY SMALL CICULATION
PATTERNS..ABOUT 3 METRES IN DIAMETER..WERE NOTED IN THE DAMAGED AREA AND WERE LIKELY CAUSED BY EDDIES THAT FORM ALONG THE EDGES OF THE GUST FRONT.

July 22: Severe Thunderstorms, Funnel Clouds, Possible Tornado

Environment Canada released this report about the afternoon storms:

LOCATION (County) TIME EVENT DESCRIPTION
MERLIN (KENT) 4.30 PM FUNNEL CLOUDS POSSIBLE TOUCHDOWN
LONDON (MIDDLESEX) 6.00 PM 90 MM IN 1HR ESTIMATED FROM RADAR
THEDFORD (LAMBTON) 6.45 PM FUNNEL CLOUD

Towers shot up right in my end of town and I followed the storm through Niagara-on-the-Lake and into Queenston. I was in the tail-end of it most of the time, trying to get into the middle, but it beat me over the river (Niagara River) into New York... and I don't chase in the States... Possible tornado touchdown in Merlin (Kent County).

July 21: Violent Thunderstorms
Strong winds knocked over trees and cause some damage in Windsor and London. This storm killed one person in Michigan before it crossed into Southern Ontario.

July 16: Tornado & Severe Thunderstorms
A cold front came through the -massively- hot and humid air (43C) producing scattered thunderstorms, some being severe. A tornado reportedly touched down near Ottawa around the Ontario/Quebec border.

Doppler Images: 14:33 , 14:56 , 15:55
Summaries.....: 14:15 , 14:30 , 15:30
GOES-8........: 15:45

June 29 - Killer storm, Yet more tornados
Tornados touched down in Inwood (between London and Sarnia), Jerseyville (between Brantford and Hamilton) and the south end of the city of Guelph and surrounding areas. This storm is being blamed for one death. Sorry but I was at work when this happened and wasn't able to save all of the doppler images and other data images. I watched the storm build up while outside on break at work and got very angry that I was stuck at work!

JUNE 26 - Killer storm, 2 (maybe 4) tornados, funnel clouds, intense lightning

Around 2am a massive storm erupted over southern Ontario (or at least, over my location of S.Ontario. I was away for most of the day and couldn't tell what was happening during the evening). VERY intense lightning, pouring rain and 100+km/hr winds. A tornado touched down in Arthur, and we saw a couple lightning back-lit funnel clouds here in Niagara. We chased this storm for a bit, and full info can be found in my CHASE LOG . Chase images can be seen on the VIDEO CAPTURE PAGE! Never before have I seen 3 simultaneous CGs strike in 3 different spots! 2 people were struck and killed during this storm. I now realize how hard it is to get camcorder images to come out clearly when the only source of illumination is the lightning! When it's pitch black the camera doesn't have anything to auto-focus on to so when a flash goes by, it usually comes out all out of focus and blurry. [note: please keep in mind that entries from this year are during my first days of chasing, with old equipment! ]

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Downed tree blocks our chase path in Niagara On The Lake :)
The Welland Canal was hit by lightning and lifted 10 feet above the road
Tornado touches down in Arthur, Ontario (video courtesy Dave Patrick)
Camcorder CGs.

FULL motion FULL audio movie files of our storm chase! You'll need a good Vivo player like VivoActive PowerPlayer or Vivo Extreme to play these files:
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD VIVTV - GOOD VIVO PLAYER!

june26-chase1.viv 422 k My friend and brother film the storm while I'm back at home putting more film in my camera. Lots of lightning and high winds. Looking north over Lake Ontario, in St. Catharines.

june26-chase2.viv 231 k We moved to an outdoor gazebo in Niagara-on-the-Lake. VERY close deafening CG. Then another close CG knocks out the power. My friend keeps freaking that the powers out but I just say "Don't worry about it." in a calm voice :P

close-cg.viv 206 k Lightning strikes a tree on the side of the road right while we were driving past it!

june26-01.viv 231 k CHCH-TV (Hamilton) news coverage of the storm - shows the Welland Canal bridge over Lakeshore Rd. in St. Kitts that got hit by lightning. The bridge just went up about 5 feet and stayed there (I tried to pull it back down but it didn't work.. :P Yah, like I can pull down 10000 tons of concrete and metal :)

june26-02.viv 844 k WeatherNetwork coverage of the storm. Has the Arthur funnel/tornado, brief interview with Dave Patrick, more Welland Canal bridge stuff, interview with a highway worker who's truck blew across the street, interview with WeatherNetwork meteorologist, and an explanation why we're having so much severe weather this year.

(To play these movies you'll need a good vivo player like VivoExtreme or VivoActive PowerPlayer - some browsers have built-in vivo players so click on it and see what happens :)

June 25, 1998 - Severe thunderstorm (squall line)

Nothing spectacular. Some very loud thunder, a little visible lightning (not much), and pouring rain for about 15 minutes. The line started up above Toronto then moved SE and intensified.

Doppler images..: 12:56 , 13:32 , 14:33 , 14:58
Radar summaries.: 13:15 , 13:45 , 14:15 , 14:30
GOES-8 Satellite: 13:45

Click HERE for a movie of some *LOUD* thunder during this storm! (Requires a VIVO movie player)

The very hot and humid weather has caused numerous advisories to be issued from Environment Canada. A humidity advisory as well as an air quality index advisory has been issued.

June 02, 1998 - Tornados & Severe thunderstorms

A repeat of Sunday's storms but more intense. Severe t-storm watches and warnings went up early in the day and progressed into tornado watches/warnings. Reported funnel clouds in many regions of Southern Ontario. Reports of tornado in Orillia. Reports of damaging tornados in Elmvale and Norwich (church ripped apart). Hail here in Niagara around 5pm (I managed to get it on videotape as well as some spectacular cloud movement.) 1-2cm hail in Hanover and Owen Sound. Numerous tornados in western New York state. The strange thing about this storm compared to other storms I've seen that form from a squall line is that there was 1 storm cell that stayed composed throughout. Usually storms associated with a squall line are small and short lived, dying out and having new ones replace them, all along the line. As you will notice from the doppler images below, there was one storms along the cold front that maintained itself without breaking up into the line itself (this was the one that hit us here in Niagara, then on to Buffalo... as the other cells were breaking down and re-forming, this one just got bigger and bigger!). If anyone was out chasing and has any video or camera shots, please e-mail me! I will pay you for anything half decent! JUNE 3 UPDATE: Environment Canada is now confirming that they were indeed tornados in Norwich, and also in Elmvale (F2). The Dunnville/Crystal Beach area has had numerous tornado sightings.

Summary from Environment Canada:
CENTRAL HURON COUNTY...........WINDS 100-120 KM/H   2:45 PM
HANOVER........................HAIL 1 TO 2 CM       3:45 PM
ELMVALE........................UNCONFIRMED TORNADO 3:55 PM Damage to grain elevator/trees
WOODSTOCK......................FUNNEL CLOUD         4:00 PM
ALISTON IN BARRIE HURONIA......FUNNEL CLOUD         4:11 PM
KESWICK IN YORK DURHAM.........SWIRLING WINDS, HAIL 4:25 PM
NORWICH IN OXFORD COUNTY.......CHURCH LEVELED       4:27 PM
MUSKOKA........................WIND GUSTS 100 KM/H 4:35 PM
RICHMOND HILL..................TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS 4:53 PM
SIMCOE.........................UNCONFIRMED TORNADO 6:00 PM

10:52am - Severe thunderstorm watch issued for Niagara & other parts
03:41pm - Severe thunderstorm warning issued for Niagara & other parts
04:08pm - Tornado warning issued for Peel/York region
04:25pm - Tornado warning issued for Niagara/Hamilton/Norfolk
09:57pm - All watches/warnings issued by Environment Canada this day

Doppler images.: 2:58pm , 3:32pm , 3:59pm , 4:35pm , 5:00pm , Loop
Radar summaries: 2:45pm , 3:00pm , 3:30pm , 3:45pm , 4:00pm , 4:30pm , 4:45pm , 5:30pm
SPC Boxes......: 5:00pm , 5:27pm , 9:30pm
Stormwatch.....: 5:05pm
^-closeup....: 4:11pm

Pictures: Click on thumbnails to enlarge
More storm photos...
<-Clouds & hail in St. Catharines

<- Damage in Norwich (8 pix)
<- Large ree snapped and stripped of some bark
<- Pictures of actual tornado

Newpaper articles
<- Maps of where in Ontario the tornados were

This storm also produced these tornados that killed 2 people in Pennsylvania:

<- Back to the Storms Page

june26-chase1.viv	422 k	My friend and brother film the storm while I'm back at home putting more film in my camera. Lots of lightning and high winds. Looking north over Lake Ontario, in St. Catharines.
june26-chase2.viv	231 k	We moved to an outdoor gazebo in Niagara-on-the-Lake. VERY close deafening CG. Then another close CG knocks out the power. My friend keeps freaking that the powers out but I just say "Don't worry about it." in a calm voice :P
close-cg.viv	206 k	Lightning strikes a tree on the side of the road right while we were driving past it!
june26-01.viv	231 k	CHCH-TV (Hamilton) news coverage of the storm - shows the Welland Canal bridge over Lakeshore Rd. in St. Kitts that got hit by lightning. The bridge just went up about 5 feet and stayed there (I tried to pull it back down but it didn't work.. :P Yah, like I can pull down 10000 tons of concrete and metal :)
june26-02.viv	844 k	WeatherNetwork coverage of the storm. Has the Arthur funnel/tornado, brief interview with Dave Patrick, more Welland Canal bridge stuff, interview with a highway worker who's truck blew across the street, interview with WeatherNetwork meteorologist, and an explanation why we're having so much severe weather this year.