Tornado touched down in Uxbridge during Saturday’s storm

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Field crews with the Northern Tornadoes Project have confirmed that an EF2 tornado hit Uxbridge, Ont., with wind speeds of up to 195 km/h.


Canada’s 1st derecho since 1999

The City of Toronto is continuing clean-up work after last Saturday’s severe storm. City and contracted forestry crews worked through the weekend to respond to storm service requests. More than 2,900 requests have been received since Saturday. Crews worked 12- to 14-hour shifts over the weekend and all available crews and inspectors were brought in and assigned to this work.

Nearly half of Canada’s population hit by derecho. “Derechos of similar intensity have occurred before in this part of Canada, but never has one had a track like this that followed the length of the most densely populated corridor in the country.”

What’s a derecho and why is it so destructive? The science behind this powerful storm “A derecho, is a long-lived, fast-moving thunderstorm that causes widespread wind damage. This particular storm system was fed by a heat dome over the eastern United States. Unlike the rotating winds in a hurricane or a tornado, a derecho’s winds are straight. That doesn’t mean it’s any less damaging; its winds can topple trees and lift up roofs. Another feature of a derecho is that unlike the slow building of a supercell thunderstorm, the business end of a derecho is at the front.”

Hydro Ottawa says current outages significantly worse than ice storm, tornadoes