July 18, 2000

GENERAL WEATHER STATEMENT ISSUED BY ENVIRONMENT CANADA. REGIONAL CENTRE TORONTO ONTARIO. 8.51 AM EDT TUESDAY 18 JULY 2000.

TORNADOES CONFIRMED...

AT LEAST TWO SEPARATE TORNADOES TOUCHED DOWN MONDAY EVENING OVER REGIONS WEST AND NORTHWEST OF LAKE ONTARIO. STARTING AT AROUND 8 PM EDT A TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN IN THE SOUTHERN SUBURBS OF GUELPH. AN ENVIRONMENT CANADA INVESTIGATOR IS CONTINUING TO EXAMINE THE DAMAGE BUT HAS INITIALLY RATED THIS STORM AS A F2 TORNADO PRODUCING WINDS OF 180 TO 250 KM/H. THIS STORM TRACKED EAST-SOUTHEASTWARD AND PRODUCED DAMAGE ACROSS SOUTHERN GUELPH UNTIL AROUND 8.30 PM. THERE ARE REPORTS OF POSSIBLY THREE DIFFERENT FUNNEL TOUCHDOWNS ALONG THE PATH OF THIS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM. A SECOND TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN NORTHEAST OF WATERDOWN FOR ABOUT 15 SECONDS. THIS TORNADO HAS BEEN CONFIRMED BUT ITS INTENSITY HAS YET TO BE DETERMINED.

In a word, gleep! That's been the story of the weather in Canada these past few days. By now, I'm sure everyone knows of the deadly F3 that struck a campground in Alberta, claiming at least 11 lives. There may be even more, once the cleanup crew dredges up the approximately 70 trailers that were blown into the lake. With the one above, that's 2 severe thunderstorms that have swept across the Toronto region since Friday. No twisters here thankfully, "only" some high winds that have toppled some trees in parts of the city. Our neighbourhood got away lucky - only some branches down here and there.

I have a great deal of respect for mother nature. As a result, I've become something of a weather freak (Lisa would likely drop the 'weather' part of that sentence) with a fair bit of accumulated environmental common sense and knowledge. I've got at least 2 online doppler radar websites bookmarked so I can keep track of incoming systems. During last nights weather that spawned the aforementioned tornado in Guelph (1 hour west of us along the 401) I spent more time trying to read the cloud patterns and rain angles as the storm passed, trying to glean what sort of phenomenon might affect our home. I did see a couple of incidences of slow spiraling that potentially could have turned dangerous, but they dissipated after a couple of minutes. Our apartment building is situated in such a way that makes it difficult to see the approaching weather that will directly affect us. It's like driving and only being able to see out your side windows to determine what's in front of you.

I am going to call my half-brother Robin tonight, who lives in the south end of Guelph, to find out how he and his family are and if they were affected in any way.

It's been an unusual summer thus far, escpecially compared to those of the last dozen years or so. I can recall only one day since the start of spring where the temperature rose above 30ºC. Last year, if memory serves, we had stretches of a week or two where there was nothing but HHH conditions. I much prefer these current mid-20 degree, mid-level humidity days to those sticky ones of years past.

Must away to work; got to catch up on a weeks worth of my being away.