Not one, not two, but three tornadoes have officially been confirmed in South Niagara after Monday’s storm.
The Northern Tornadoes Project, which operates out of Western University and studies tornadoes across the country, confirmed that three different twisters touched down in the region on Monday.
The first was around 11:20am, just on the outskirts of Fort Erie, and tracked 10km to Stevensville, causing damage to a number of trees and barns in the small community. Officials say the wind speeds were around 155km/h, classifying this twister as an EF1.
The second was just after 12:00pm, another EF1 with wind speeds of 155km/h, that touched down in Fort Erie near Garrison Road. Extensive damage was done to the RONA warehouse in the area, while a camping trailer in the Walmart parking lot was tipped over. This tornado tracked for just under 6km.
The third, and weakest, was an EF0 tornado, near the Fort Erie Beach. It’s believed this tornado had a weaker wind speed of about 125km/h, and crossed over the water into Buffalo, NY, where officials have classified it as an EF1. Between the Canadian and American sides of the border, this tornado travelled about 5.2km, starting at 12:40pm.
Dr. Connell Miller of the Northern Tornadoes Project explains how damaged was assessed to determine these classifications.
This trio of tornadoes was the first over-land twisters the region has seen since last summer, when a weaker EF0 was confirmed in Fort Erie in late June 2023.
There were no injuries reported during the twisters, while Environment Canada says no warning or watch was issued because of how quickly conditions in the region changed.
(Written by: Matt Latour)
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