Severe weather in Ontario has picked up in
the last few months and has given me the opportunity to do some extensive
chases in many parts of the province.
May 6 - 13:
With the lack of severe weather in Ontario to early June, my trip to
tornado alley was a good break and a way to get ready for the Ontario
storm season (if and when it arrives). This was the first year that
I would rely solely on my own forecast and then compare it to others.
My vacation got off a week later than I
wanted. I was suppose to leave on Sunday May 2 for, either, Wichita
Kansas or Oklahoma City, Oklahoma for Monday afternoon. The
reason was half due to my forecast with the long range models and half
because I had never been to Oklahoma City and I like Wichita from past
years successes there. I figured I would decide where to go the first
night. To my dismay, on Friday night, I noticed my radiator cracked and
had to be repaired and would not be completed till Tuesday morning. When
the outbreak occurred on May 3, I was a little upset (to say the
least). Both my target areas got hit with F4 tornadoes at the
time I would have been there. Well, putting that behind me, I would leave
on Wednesday. I got up in the morning and was about to pack the car
up when I noticed more drips on the driveway. After looking at the
area it was coming from, I discovered that the new rad had put more
pressure on the system and blew my water pump (It does not rain, it
pours!). Another day gone. I finally got out of the province on
Thursday morning. A full 5 days late and many tornadic and severe
thunderstorms later. Looking at the weather pattern, I would have
some time to reflect on my trip to the plains. I have laid out the
day to day logs below with the pictures I captured along the way. Included
are some damage photos from Wichita and Oklahoma, a little funnel
cloud/tornado I caught in Kansas, some intense hail and lightning shots
and various other photos of sunsets and cloud formations.
June 2:
A tornado (F1) touched down in the Purple Valley area
today. I got the report on June 3 and decided to head to the region to
view the area. My observations and a few photos are here.
June 7:
I finally got my first and second chases of the Ontario season in today.
The conditions were very hot and unstable and the atmosphere was setting
up for a show. My complete log including photos and a comprehensive
look at the damage in Toronto caused by microbursts is here including
radar animations, photos and links to other sources.
July 3:
Chasing today was in 2 locations. A possible tornadic storm in the Guelph
Region and another severe tornadic cell that had decreased in intensity
from Northern Upper Michigan. Both chases resulted in heavy rains
and flooding but no funnel clouds or tornadoes detected by me. It was also
a bad day for photography but here is the log anyway.
July
24: Tornadic storm system in Wellington County near Arthur produced
2 funnels that I viewed but camera and video problems, combined with not
being in the right location resulted in few shots and the best ones being
missed.
July
28: Severe thunderstorm cell in Kincardine area that produced a
beautiful gust front and some small hail. This storm was the first
of a number of cells that formed including a tornadic storm in the Chatham
and Sarnia area. I got a wall cloud on film but nothing formed. Some
excellent lightning and other photographic shots. Spent a good deal
of time this week on my photography skills.
July
29: A bust day all around. A number of conditions prevented this
chase from occurring. I had forecasted a significant outbreak of severe
thunderstorms with tornadoes today but busted out due to a lazy trough
that decided to stall out in Michigan.
July
31: Probably the longest chase day I have had in Ontario and
very close to chase days in the plains. 5 severe thunderstorms and
one tornadic thunderstorm produced some good video of lightning hitting a
transformer and hay bales fires.
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