Two new Ontario tornadoes
While all of the straightforward tornado events for the 2022 season have already been assessed and documented, there remains a number of more challenging events that have required extra analysis work (and in some cases extra observations e.g. aircraft flights).
Two such tornado events that occurred in southern Ontario in July and August are summarized below. The first, from July 24, was generated by the same supercell thunderstorm that caused the Rockland-Actinolite EF2 tornado. Fortunately, this tornado was far less destructive.
The second tornado was a weak, non-supercell 'landspout' tornado that developed with an area of isolated storms.
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Event Name: Parham, ON
Date: July 24, 2022
Start Time: 9:21 PM EDT (0121 UTC)
Final Classification: Tornado (Over Land)
Final EF-Scale Rating: EF1
EF-Scale Damage Indicator / Degree of Damage: C-T/DOD-5
Start of damage track: 44.6333N, 76.769W
End of damage of track: 44.6314N, 76.7531W
Location of worst damage: 44.6333N, 76.7583W
Description: Satellite imagery review of a storm track of interest revealed a weak tornado damage path through forested areas southwest of Parham. Damage assessed is EF1 tornado, with an estimated max. wind speed of 145 km/h, track length of 1.41 km and max. path width of 210 m. Tornado motion was from the W (approx. 280 degrees). Start time is radar estimated. The same parent storm earlier produced the EF2 Rockdale-Actinolite tornado.
Event Name: Hastings, ON
Date: August 30, 2022
Start Time: 7:50 PM EDT (2350 UTC)
Final Classification: Tornado (Over Land)
Final EF-Scale Rating: EF0
EF-Scale Damage Indicator / Degree of Damage: C-T/DOD-3
Damage area: 44.3298N, 77.8779W
Description: A property owner northeast of Hastings reported localized high winds that downed several trees as a storm passed through. Radar imagery revealed rapidly growing convection and a nearby witness captured video of the storm with a rapidly rotating funnel cloud in the vicinity of the damage, though the view of the surface was obscured by trees. An NTP survey was completed on September 2, 2022, documenting the isolated damage. Damage assessed as EF0 tornado, with an estimated max. wind speed of 100 km/h. Satellite imagery review did not reveal any visible damage. Information available insufficient to accurately estimate track length, max. path width and tornado motion.
CASFT radar reflectivity (left) and radial velocity (right) near the time of the Parham tornado. A prominent velocity couplet can be seen southwest of Parham.