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A team of Western University researchers has determined two weak tornadoes caused damage in parts of London on Wednesday as the remnants of Hurricane Beryl barrelled through the region.
Officials with the Northern Tornadoes Project announced on Saturday they’d found evidence of “wind damage” in two locations in London – one in west London, and another in the area around Hyde Park and River Bend in the city’s northwest end. They weren’t more specific about the locations of the twisters, though one image suggested damage near Cherryhill Village.
Both occurred at about 4 p.m. on July 10 and were rated EF0 – the lowest possible rating for a tornado’s strength.
Officials said they found wind damage in the two locations, specifically tree damage in west London and eyewitness accounts and tree damage at a golf course along with crop damage in the Hyde Park incident.
The west London twister had wind speeds estimated at 90 kilometres/hour and the Hyde Park one left behind a damage pathway 10 metres wide, officials said. Video footage, below, helped confirm there were tornadoes and the research team credits Andrew Colvin and Daniel Hart for contributing it..
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The tornadoes arrived amid a massive rain storm that lashed London as the remnants of Hurricane Beryl moved across Ontario. The hurricane hit Texas on Monday after passing through the Caribbean, killing several people, but weakened into a tropical depression after making landfall and moving northeast.
Twisters are not unheard of in Southwestern Ontario. Last July, for example, tornadoes touched down in the town of Petrolia in Lambton County and the town of South Buxton near Chatham.
Founded at Western University in 2017, the Northern Tornadoes Project’s mandate is “to better detect tornado occurrence throughout Canada and improve severe and extreme weather understanding and prediction.”
@HeatheratLFP
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