Five ON Tornadoes on September 26
NTP investigations have led to the confirmation of five Ontario tornadoes over or near the shores of Lakes Erie and Ontario on September 26 - part of a Great Lakes-wide waterspout outbreak related to a cool air mass settling over the still-warm lakes for several days.
In fact, the International Centre for Waterspout Research recorded 136 waterspouts and funnel clouds over the eastern Great Lakes between Sep 25 and Sep 27 (see graphic below from @ICWR).
NTP examined all of the waterspout reports from the Canadian side of the border and only 4 of these had a clear spray vortex associated with the funnel cloud over water - required by NTP for confirmation as Tornado (over water).
A fifth event occurred over land but the parent cloud developed over Lake Ontario. There is no evidence that it was a landfalling waterspout, with the only known damage approx. 3 km inland from shore. See the map below for locations.
The following event summaries provide full details for the five new tornadoes.
Event Name: Lake Erie (Windmill Point), ON
Date: September 26, 2022
Start Time: 9:31 AM EDT (1331 UTC)
Final Classification: Tornado (Over Water)
Final EF-Scale Rating: EF0-Default
Estimated tornado location: 42.85N, 79.00W
Description: Witnesses in Crystal Beach captured video and photos of a tornado over Lake Erie, south of Windmill Point in the Fort Erie area. No damage reported.
Event Name: Lake Erie (Port Colborne), ON
Date: September 26, 2022
Start Time: 9:50 AM EDT (1350 UTC)
Final Classification: Tornado (Over Water)
Final EF-Scale Rating: EF0-Default
Estimated tornado location: 42.84N, 79.21W
Description: Witness in Port Colborne captured photos of a tornado over Lake Erie. No damage reported.
Event Name: Lake Erie (Crystal Beach), ON
Date: September 26, 2022
Start Time: 10:18 AM EDT (1418 UTC)
Final Classification: Tornado (Over Water)
Final EF-Scale Rating: EF0-Default
Estimated tornado location: 42.858N, 79.040W
Description: Witnesses in Crystal Beach captured video and photos of a tornado over Lake Erie. No damage reported.
Event Name: Wellington, ON
Date: September 26, 2022
Start Time: 10:24 AM EDT (1424 UTC)
Preliminary Classification: Tornado (Over Land)
Preliminary EF-Scale Rating: EF0-Default
Damage location: 43.9539N, 77.3586W
Description: Damage was reported in Wellington after a storm passed through the area. Two trailers were toppled in an area where a witness reported a funnel cloud. Security camera with a view of the surface captured footage showing the vortex moving through the parking lot where the damage occurred. No injuries were reported. With no damage indicators impacted, the EF-Scale rating is EF0-Default. Information available insufficient to accurately estimate track length, max. path width and tornado motion of the tornado. Satellite imagery review is pending.
Event Name: Lake Ontario (Grafton), ON
Date: September 26, 2022
Start Time: 2:50 PM EDT (1850 UTC)
Final Classification: Tornado (Over Water)
Final EF-Scale Rating: EF0-Default
Estimated tornado location: 43.80N, 77.92W
Description: Witness in the Grafton area captured photos of a tornado over Lake Erie. At least one funnel cloud over the water was also seen. No damage reported.
