List of Canadian tornadoes and tornado outbreaks (before 2001)
This page lists tornadoes and tornado outbreaks which have touched down in Canada since 1792.
The increase in numbers of tornadoes in recent years may reflect better record keeping rather than an actual increase in tornado occurrence, as well as better technology to detect tornadoes, such as doppler radar and satellite imagery. The upswing could also be attributed to once sparsely populated areas (such as the Canadian Prairies, for example) now having larger populations than in the past.
For a variety of reasons (such as sturdier construction for buildings to withstand the harsher winters), Canadian tornadoes have historically caused far fewer fatalities than tornadoes in the United States — the deadliest tornado in Canadian history, in fact, would not even rank in the top 25 when compared to American tornado fatalities.
Before 1880
- June 30. The first recorded tornado in Canadian history affected the Niagara Peninsula between Fonthill and Port Robinson, Ontario.
- A tornado hit Guelph, destroying buildings and leaving the town inactive for the next 3 years.
- August 7. A tornado at Galt, Ontario (Now part of the City of Cambridge) destroyed barns and fences, uprooted trees and killed one person, Canada's earliest recorded tornado death.
- September 20. A tornado outbreak felled thousands of trees in Ontario and Quebec and produced a tornado which tracked for 443 km across Lakes Ontario and Champlain.
- April 18. An area between Collingwood, Ontario and Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario in southern Ontario was affected by tornadoes, one of which lifted a saloon up into the air.
- May 19. Homes, fences and trees were demolished by a 500 m wide tornado near Aurora, Ontario. Hailstones up to 8 cm in diameter also fell.
- Bouctouche, New Brunswick tornado, August 6. (5 dead, 10 injured,[1] 25 families homeless in Bouctouche, New Brunswick, easternmost major tornado in North America)
- June 10. A 200 m wide tornado touches down at Listowel, Ontario lifting a man up into the air. He grabs on to a bridge to save himself.
- Elora, Ontario Tornado, May 15. Suspected F4. A tornado half a kilometre wide destroyed barns, fences and stables at Elora, Ontario, and damaged a church and cemetery in Goldstone, Ontario.
- June 7. Houses and orchards at Parkhill, Ontario and St. Thomas, Ontario were damaged when a tornado touched down and hail up to 10 cm in diameter fell.
- Southern Quebec Tornado, June 6. A tornado affected an area between Montreal, Quebec and Cornwall, Ontario killing 3 and destroying 500 farms, barns and outbuildings.
- Lancaster, Ontario - Saint-Zotique, Quebec Tornado, Lancaster, Ontario - Saint-Zotique, Quebec - Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec, August 16, 1888. Extensive property damage, 9 dead, 16 injured.
- Sainte-Rose, Quebec Tornado, June 14. Six dead, 26 injured.
- June 29. A tornado in London, Ontario destroyed barns and orchards.
- September 26. A tornado at Merritton, Ontario, since amalgamated with St. Catharines, Ontario, killed 4 or 5 and injures dozens of other people.
- Regina Cyclone, F4, Regina, Saskatchewan, June 30. See Article for in-depth information
- The area between Windsor, Ontario and Cobalt in Ontario was affected by winds gusting up to 150 km/h. 7 people were killed during the storm which also damaged buildings and uprooted trees. March 21.
- July 22. A tornado passed through Southeastern Saskathchewan, killing 4, and injuring 13 more. The Canadian Red Cross provided relief on behalf of the government to 42 affected families in Alameda, Frobisher, Lampman, Steelman, and Estevan. This is Canada's only official F5 tornado to date.
- June 18. A tornado picked up a house in Elfros, Saskatchewan killing one person. The tornado cut an 11 km path of damage.
- Portage La Prairie, Manitoba Tornado Outbreak, June 22-23. Five dead, multiple tornadoes touched down.
- July 21. A tornado affecting Crystal Springs, Saskatchewan lifted a house and dropped it a field a little way away.
- July 12. Tornadoes are rare in British Columbia but nevertheless they do occur from time to time. On this day in 1926, a tornado at Lac La Hache, British Columbia destroyed farm buildings and felled trees.
- Benson, Saskatchewan, July 1, 1935. A strong F4 (possibly a weak F5) strikes Benson, SK.
- St. John, Quebec Tornado, June 11. A tornado touching down at St John, Quebec topples trees and rips of roofs.
- Windsor - Tecumseh, Ontario Tornado of 1946 (F4), Windsor, Ontario and Tecumseh, Ontario. June 17. (See Article for in-depth information)
- Fort Frances, Ontario Tornado (F3), International Falls, Minnesota - Fort Frances, Ontario - Rainy River, Ontario, June 24.
- July 19. The small village of Cheneville, Quebec was devastated by a tornado which lasted about 3 minutes.
- Regina Tornado of 1950 (November)
- Rycroft, Alberta Tornado. A tornado cut an 80 km path from Rycroft, Alberta to Eaglesham, Alberta damaging crops, farm machinery and farm buildings. September 1.
- Sarnia, Ontario Tornado of 1953 (seven dead, 40 injured, and 500 left homeless), May 21
- 5 were killed and 41 injured when a series of tornadoes affected south-western Ontario. 29
- White Point Beach, NS Tornado, January 30. A great deal of hail and lightning along the coast, touched down near Liverpool, Nova Scotia
- Nanaimo, British Columbia Tornado, April 25. A tornado near Nanaimo, BC caused minor damages.
- Watrous, Saskatchewan Tornado, April 16. A tornado at Watrous, Saskatchewan destroying a large barn and scattering pigs up to 5 km from the barn.
- Hensall, Ontario Tornado, A tornado tracking between Hensall and Dublin in Ontario killed one person. April 17.
- Amaranth, Manitoba Tornado, May of 1958.
- Southern Manitoba Tornado, June 6. A tornado destroyed a garage in La Salle, Manitoba, yet the car inside the garage was not damaged. The tornado could be seen 15 km away in Winnipeg.
- July 1. A small tornado is observed near Vancouver, British Columbia. The weather office here opened in 1929 and at that time this was the third tornado they'd seen here.
- Uclulet, British Columbia Tornado. A tornado affected Ucluelet, British Columbia. Unknown but significant damages. March 7.
- Huron - Perth Tornado (Southern Ontario, $1 million dollars damage)
- Watson, Saskatchewan Tornado A tornado hit Watson, SK destroying a car shed amongst other things. April 11.
- Sudbury, Ontario Tornado, August 20, 1970 - 6 dead, 200 injured.
- A funnel cloud was sighted on Upper Garry Lake, Northwest Territories, the most northerly funnel cloud on record in Canada. August 10.
- Super Outbreak (F3), Windsor, Ontario, April 3, 1974. 9 dead, 30 injured, $500,000 in damages. See article for in-depth information.
- Saint Bonaventure, Quebec Tornado, Saint Bonaventure, Quebec; 40 injured, 300 homeless, $2.5 to $3 million in damages.
- Yellowknife Tornado. A tornado touches down near Yellowknife, Northwest Territories toppling a tower and destroying a transmission tower at Rae-Edzo. It is the third tornado in 16 years there.
- Masson & Buckingham, Quebec. An F1/F2 tore through the former cities of Buckingham and Masson (now Gatineau) on June 27, 1978. 35 injuries and 100 homes sustained significant damage. Damage amount $3 million.
- Woodstock, Ontario Tornado of August 1979 (2-F4's), Burgessville, Ontario - Woodstock, Ontario, August 7, 1979. Killed 3 and injured 150.
- Altona, ( B.C.?? ) Alberta Tornado, April 6. A minor tornado touches down near Altona, Alberta.
- Montreal - Sainte-Rose Tornado, Near Montréal, Quebec (Sainte-Rose), Quebec; five fatalities, 26 injured, and extensive damage; hundreds of homes and barns flattened. June 14.
- Reeces Corners Tornado, Reeces Corners, Ontario (around 20 km east of Sarnia, Ontario). Millions of dollars in damages.
- Blue Sea, Quebec, July 15, 1984, one person was killed by a tornado near Maniwaki, Quebec
- Southwest Ontario Tornado Outbreak of 1982/London, Ontario Tornado, September 2. Tornadoes touch down all over southwest Ontario, from Windsor to London, injuring 30.
- US-Canadian Outbreak (F4), Barrie, Ontario, May 31. Travelled from Hopeville, Ontario to Barrie. 12 killed, hundreds injured; 800 homeless, more than 100 buildings were damaged at a cost of over $100 million, destruction of 300 houses. Other tornadoes also struck Grand Valley, Orangeville and Tottenham. See article for in-depth information.
- Mississauga Tornado, July 7. A tornado in the Meadowvale area of Mississauga, Ontario injures 10 and caused $400,000 damage.
- Lampman, Saskatchewan Tornado, May 6. Minor tornado touches down near Lampman, Saskatchewan.
- Northern Saskatchewan Tornadoes, June 1. Three tornadoes touched down in Saskatoon. Roofs and windows in the area were damaged by high winds and hailstones.
- Winnipeg, Manitoba Tornado, Winnipeg, Manitoba; a thunderstorm caused at least two tornadoes in Winnipeg; strong winds and 40 millimetres of rain in two and a half hours caused flash flooding and resulted in considerable property damage.
- Edmonton Tornado, July 31. Strong F4, possibly F5, along with a few other weaker tornadoes. Edmonton, Alberta and surrounding areas. 27 dead, 253 injured. See article for in-depth information. Canada's strongest and second deadliest tornado.
- Montreal Tornado of 1987, Montréal, Quebec; a tornado caused by a severe thunderstorm dropped 100 millimetres of rain in an hour which resulted in severe flooding across the city; the storm also caused intense winds which uprooted large trees and toppled hydro lines.
- Vancouver Tornado, May 1. Weak tornado grazes eastern Metro Vancouver.
- Medicine Hat, Alberta Tornado, Medicine Hat, Alberta; tornado caused an estimated $50 million in damage.
- Saskatchewan Tornado Outbreak of 1989, June 19. Eight tornadoes touched down over central Saskatchewan. Winds gusted up to 130 km/h and hail shredded crops at Blaine Lake, Saskatchewan.
- New Brunswick Tornado Outbreak, August 14. Three tornadoes touch down in New Brunswick. One of the tornadoes affects Carlisle where trees are uprooted and a barn is destroyed, but amazingly 22 out of 24 glass storm windows stored inside are left undamaged.
- Mont-Saint-Hilaire tornado, November 16. An F2 tornado caused 2 million dollars in damage in the community east of Montreal. This is the latest recorded tornado in the province of Quebec. It also occurred during the same tornado outbreak as the Huntsville, Alabama Tornado.
- Southern Ontario Tornado Outbreak of 1990, Southern Ontario, June 3; tornadoes, high winds and thunderstorms caused crop damage and the destruction of several buildings in the communities of Lobo, Komoka, Frome, Port Stanley, and Kendall; six minor injuries were reported.
- Sarnia, Ontario Tornado of 1991, Sarnia, Ontario; tornado caused an estimated $25 million in damage.
- Mauricie Tornado of 1991, August 21. St. Lawrence River, Quebec; the tornado affected the village of Maskinongé; the tornado crossed the St. Lawrence River and touched down in Notre-Dame-de-Pierreville where a few summer cottages were destroyed and some minor injuries occurred; it also touched down in Saint-Wenceslas where minor damage was reported; there were no deaths, 15 people injured, only one seriously; 60% of all buildings in the village of Maskinonge, Quebec were damaged, the power lines were down and telephone service stopped; no drinking water was available; estimated $13 million in damage, leaving 100 homeless. Occurred in the Maskinongé Regional County Municipality, Quebec of the Mauricie Region.
- Prince George, British Columbia Tornado, July 2. Prince George, British Columbia was affected by a severe thunderstorm which dumped 15.4 mm rain in 25 minutes on the Prince George Airport. In downtown hail fell, there was flooding and at Clucluz Lake, British Columbia a tornado uprooted trees.
- June 24. Tornadoes, large hail and torrential downpours affected southern Manitoba. Tennis ball sized hail fell near Morden, Manitoba and winds gusting to 154 km/h were recorded at Pilot Mound, Manitoba. There were also five confirmed tornado touchdowns and numerous funnel clouds. The region had been affected by severe weather the day before as well.
- Saint-Charles, Quebec, July 9, One person was killed when an F2 tore through the town located east of Montreal. 3 other person were injured, about a dozen homes were damaged.
- Aylmer, Quebec Tornado, August 4 (F3). A tornado at Aylmer, Quebec near Ottawa, Ontario injured 15 people. The tornado path was 8 km long. See Aylmer, Quebec article for details. A second tornado had previously touched down just across the Ottawa River in Carp.
- June 20. Thunderstorms rumbled for 7 hours over Manitoba producing 90 km/h winds which blew trees and power lines over. The storm even produced a weak tornado.
- Fredericton, New Brunswick Tornado, July 26. A tornado in Fredericton, New Brunswick took the roof off a government building and damaged a tennis court dome.
- July 15. A large progressive derecho thunderstorm also contains numerous small tornados that hit central Ontario overnight, centred around the Kawartha lakes area. The strongest is an F2 tornado that destroys a marina at Bridgenorth, Ontario just north of Peterborough, Ontario.
- August 14. A tornado touches down near Barrie, Ontario.
- August 29. Several farms were destroyed when a tornado lasting a couple of minutes affected Spring Valley, near Moose Jaw in Saskatchewan.
- Southern Ontario Tornadoes of 1996, Grey, Wellington and Dufferin counties, Ontario, on April 20, 1996. Two F3 class tornadoes touched down in Grey County (Williamsford), Wellington County and Dufferin County. Significant property damage occurred; nine people were injured by the two tornadoes.
- Southeast Michigan Tornado Outbreak (F1, F2, F3) Windsor, Ontario and surrounding areas, July 2. See article for more in-depth information.
- A small tornado, probably F1 goes through part of Saint-Émile, in the suburbs of Quebec City, it overturns a shed, damages three and causes a city-wide electricity loss when a garage is slammed into an electric pole.[2]
- Hull, Quebec of 1999, May 8. A tornado over Hull, Quebec caused $2M damage and tore roofs off buildings. See Aylmer, Quebec article for details.
- Saskatoon Tornadoes of 1999, May 22. Three tornadoes touch down close to the western limits of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
- Estrie Region Tornado, July 7. A tornado left 4,000 without power and 200 in need of temporary shelter in Bertheirville, Yamaska and Drummondville (all in Quebec).
- Burlington, Ontario Tornado, August 4. A tornado strikes Burlington, Ontario, causing damage, and relocating a motorhome 2 kilometers from where it was parked.
- Pine Lake, Alberta Tornado (F4) Pine Lake, Alberta (Near Red Deer, Alberta), July 14. See Article for in-depth information.
- Guelph, Ontario Tornado, July 17. An F2 tornado in Guelph, Ontario caused around $2M damage and destroyed roofs, trees and fences. The same storm then produced a second tornado in Waterdown, Ontario.
- Viking, Alberta Tornado. August 1. Egg-sized hail and a tornado strike Viking, Alberta.
- August 6. As people were gathering in Pine Lake, Alberta for a memorial service for those who died in a killer tornado just a few weeks earlier, a second tornado hit.
- Saguenay Tornado, June 19. Alma in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean area was struck by an F2 tornado which lasted about half a minute and destroyed two houses, a barn and a garage as well as uprooting trees and damaging roofs. A second funnel cloud affected the same region just 3 weeks later.
- July 4. Quebec and Southeastern Ontario had some severe weather. There was heavy rain, strong winds and 2 cm hail. Tornadoes touched down in Ayr, Argyle, Campbellville and Fenelon Falls (all in Ontario).
- North Bay, Ontario Tornadoes, May 31. North Bay, Ontario is struck by two weak tornadoes.
- June 23, A weak tornado touched down in Ottawa between Kanata and Barrhaven.
- July 28, Severe thunderstorms over northern Ontario produced a tornado over Halfway Lake Provincial Park (70 km north of Sudbury, Ontario) where 800 people were camping at the time and up to 150 mm rain falls in just 3 hours at Stratford and Tavistock in Ontario.
- May 22, two F2 intensity tornados strike at 6pm, one near Mitchell, Ontario and the other in nearby Gad's Hill causing extensive damage.
- July 8, an F0-F1 tornado touched down in Grande Prairie, Alberta, causing damage to homes and businesses outlets and flipping over vehicles.
- August 10, two tornadoes touched down in the Ottawa region, one in Burnstown and another in Thurso. Both were rated F1's
- Southern Ontario Tornado Outbreak of 2005, on August 19. Numerous tornadoes touch down (strongest were F2s and F3s), damaging homes in Kitchener, Ontario, Guelph, Ontario, and an unusual tornado touching down within the Toronto, Ontario city limits. The storms cause extensive damage in a path from Stratford, Ontario (20 km west of Kitchener), to Peterborough, Ontario, and along the Georgian Bay near Collingwood. One storm, just to the north of Fergus, Ontario spawned two F2 strength tornados that were particularly damaging, tearing apart trees, farms and overturning automobiles driving on a highway.
- Hamilton, Ontario on November 9, a late-season tornado tears off part of the roof of a school and damages other businesses in the area.
- Glassville, New Brunswick Tornado Of 2006, in Glassville, New Brunswick. Tuesday, July 4, 2006. F1 strikes Glassville, NB, 40 km (25 miles) south of Perth Andover, New Brunswick. A great deal of forest and structural damage, but no injuries or deaths. See CBC.ca's article for more info.
- July 17, F1 tornado struck Newmarket, Ontario at night, packing winds of 120 to 170 kilometres an hour, cut a swath of damage 10 km long and 100 metres wide in the Woodbine Avenue/Davis Drive area around 10:15 p.m. At about the same time, an F0, with winds up to 115 km/h, was wreaking havoc in a small section of the Stonehaven subdivision, off Leslie Street south of Mulock Drive.
- August 1, An F2 tornado struck the community of Lac Drolet in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, destroying a house.
- August 2, a number of homes and cottages damaged or completely destroyed by a tornado in Combemere, Ontario located in the Upper Ottawa Valley. The same storm system spawned an outbreak of at least eight tornados between north of Barrie, Ontario and Peterborough, Ontario, which damaged cottages in the area, some severely. Two category F2s were confirmed in Bancroft, Ontario, and Combermere, Ontario. [3]
- August 4, in Gull Lake, Manitoba a tornado kills a woman at a campground north of Winnipeg.
- August 20, An F2 tornado hit the community of La Broquerie in southern Manitoba, destroying a house.
- None recorded to date. However, this may change as Tornado season (roughly Mid-May to late-September) approaches.
See also
External links
- Extreme Weather at the CBC.ca Archives
- Environment Canada's information page on Tornadoes (Alternate Link)
- Canadian Atlas of strong tornadoes
- List of strong tornadoes from 1879 to present
- Dan, Dan, The Weather Man's webpage of Canadian Weather Events
- CBC News, CBC.ca
- Tornadoes in Canada, CBC.ca
- TheStar.com - Eight tornadoes counted in big storm