Yesterday we had a sudden tornado warning, ringing very loudly on my smartphone! It was mid-afternoon and we prepared to hunker down in an interior room, while I checked out the radar to see the location of the rapidly moving thunderstorm cell. It was already east of us, and moving rapid;y further east, an entire line of storms crossing the province.
It had been an unusually warm day here, over 20°C, and I headed downtown for a ride keeping an eye on the radar. But a storm arose out of nothing in a matter of about 3 minutes and it started raining (lightly, thank goodness) just as I was at the farthest point of my walk. I headed back a block and sheltered under the front entrance of the museum. and Mrs. F.G. had to come and pick me up. It was awhile after that that we got the tornado warning.
They've only implemented the emergency warning alerts here over the last two years, and it doesn't happen often. Most of those we get involve the abduction of a child in a marriage dispute somewhere in the Toronto region. So it's unusual to get one for a tornado warning.
In the end there was no tornado reported, just a bad storm with lots of very dark skies. Facebook had lots of pictures of dark shelf clouds rolling in from the west. And friends who live to the east of us reported heavy hail and green skies that are certainly a sign of danger.
Tornados are rare in southern Ontario, but one or two do happen regularly every year. Most are very minor and don't do much damage, but I remember 5 significant tornados in my lifetime - including the one that hit Goderich, damaging my sister's house, which was right in the path of the tornado. It heavily damaged the downtown square (actually an octagon), the salt mine and the grain elevator, and destroyed some homes.
We had actually been in town for our niece's wedding the day before, and their children and partners had stayed the night. So when a giant chestnut tree crashed down in their yard, and windows exploded into the house, they had lots of help to clean it up. They all retreated to the basement during the storm.
So we breathed a sigh of relief, and woke to no apparent damage. The temperature is almost 20° colder, but it's sunny out at the moment.
Good you had somewhere to shelter from the rain, the electronics in your chair may not be weather sealed. We've been caught in several dandy storms while riding our bikes -- not much fun with no shelter.
ReplyDeleteWe experience small earthquakes from time to time and there's always talk of "the big one" but I would be more fearful of a tornado! Good that the warnings were for naught.
ReplyDeleteExtremes of weather are the norm these days. We can expect more of the same or worse more than likely. Glad you escaped a twister FG.
ReplyDeleteI am glad it stayed away from your area.
ReplyDeleteChecking our live Exeter radar Friday afternoon we saw the storm coming and I thought of you up there along Georgian Bay because it was already over your area. I too remember that Goderich tornado well. A huge gust of wind swept through our Park but we had no idea Goderich, just 13 miles north of us was undergoing a damaging tornado with one person losing their life.
ReplyDeleteWe were freaked to get the loud signal warning too. It got very windy here but we counted our blessings that we weren't still in the Suite up on the Ridge.
ReplyDeleteThe Goderich tornado did a lot of damage and it took years to rebuild. My in-laws lived there but were not in the path so had no damage.
That was quite the storm. I followed it on the radar, and the lightning map. We had practically nothing. The cloud photos were amazing.
ReplyDeleteIt must be scary to be out like that in the middle of a storm. I'm glad it was just a false alarm for you anyway. Stay safe! :-)
ReplyDeleteWe got strong winds out of that, but not much more.
ReplyDeleteI'm still reminded of the tornado we had in September a couple of years back. I didn't know it had been a tornado until the following day.