A weak tornado touched down south of London Tuesday night – the first confirmed twister in Ontario so far this year.
Western University’s Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP) began receiving reports of a funnel cloud in the Talbotville area around 6:30 p.m. A survey team was sent to the area and found a narrow path of damage consistent with an EF0.
“The damage was light, mostly to trees and a bit of damage to a building,” said Dr. David Sills, executive director of the Northern Tornadoes Project. “We have rated it EF0 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale which goes from zero to five. So zero is the weakest damage with winds between 90 and 130 kilometres per hour.”
The survey team will be back in the area Wednesday working to determine the estimated maximum wind speed, travel path length, and the width of the twister.
Damage from an EF0 tornado that touched down near Talbotville, June 13, 2023. Photo courtesy of London Waffle Co.
A second funnel cloud was spotted in the Beachville area in Oxford County after 8 p.m. While several images of the funnel cloud appeared on social media, the NTP did not receive any reports of damage.
“We know [the funnel cloud] was probably close to tornadic winds speeds near the ground,” said Sills. “It can also be the case that you get enough rotation for a funnel cloud to appear, but that there just aren’t very strong winds near the surface, so therefore it is not a tornado. That was likely the case in Beachville.”
Since Beachville isn’t a great distance away, Sills said NTP will still send a team of investigators to see if they can find any evidence of a touchdown.
Environment Canada had issued advisories for the London region in the lead up to the funnel cloud sightings. It had warned conditions were ripe for the development of funnel clouds generated by weak rotation under rapidly growing clouds or weak thunderstorms. The national weather agency added that while that type of rotation is not normally a danger near the ground, there was a chance it could intensify and become a weak landspout tornado.
A severe thunderstorm warning was issued early in the event and was followed by a short-lived tornado warning for Oxford County around 7:50 p.m.
The Talbotville area twister is the first to touch down in Ontario this tornado season and is one of only a couple recorded in Canada since the start of May.
“It has been a very slow start to the tornado season across the country and particularly in Ontario,” said Sills. “We are locked into this pattern of cooler weather and it looks like it could last a couple more weeks before we really start seeing summer-like temperatures again and that is when the tornado threat will likely really ramp up.”
Funnel cloud and suspected tornado sightings can be reported to the Northern Tornadoes Project for investigation through the organization’s website or on Twitter by using the tag @NTP_Reports.
Small tornado north west of Ingersoll (beachville) around 7:37 pm tonight. @IWeatherON @StormhunterTWN @CTVLondon @ONwxchaser pic.twitter.com/eAiGd9Feik
— Kennedy Kaufman (@kennedykaufman) June 14, 2023
