First Tornado of the Year Confirmed in Canada

North America's crazy weather this year just got crazier. Summary: A brief EF1 tornado touched down in Ontario west of Toronto yesterday. 

AWCN11 CWTO 191928
UPDATED WEATHER SUMMARY FOR ALL OF SOUTHERN ONTARIO AND THE
NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION ISSUED BY ENVIRONMENT CANADA
AT 3:21 PM EDT FRIDAY 19 APRIL 2013.

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==WEATHER EVENT DISCUSSION==

..FIRST TORNADO OF THE SEASON IN ONTARIO CONFIRMED..

AT APPROXIMATELY 5:45 PM EDT ON THURSDAY, APRIL 18, A STRONG LINE OF
THUNDERSTORMS MOVED THROUGH THE SHELBURNE AREA TO THE NORTHWEST OF
TORONTO. BASED ON A DAMAGE SURVEY BY ENVIRONMENT CANADA PERSONNEL,
ONE OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCED A BRIEF ENHANCED FUJITA (EF) 1
TORNADO APPROXIMATELY 6 KILOMETRES TO THE NORTHWEST OF SHELBURNE. AN
EF-1 TORNADO HAS PEAK WINDS BETWEEN 135 AND 175 KILOMETRES PER HOUR.
THE KEY DAMAGE NOTED AT THIS SCENE WAS A BARN WITH ITS ROOF AND TWO
WALLS REMOVED WITH SOME PIECES OF THE BARN FIRMLY EMBEDDED INTO THE
GROUND AT A DISTANCE OF 50 TO 100 METRES FROM THE ORIGINAL LOCATION.
THE TOTAL LENGTH OF THE DAMAGE PATH WAS 500 METRES WITH A WIDTH OF
75 METRES. INVESTIGATIONS ARE CONTINUING IN THIS AREA THAT MAY
RESULT IN THE LENGTH AND WIDTH OF THE DAMAGE TRACK CHANGING OR OF
THE POSSIBILITY OF OTHER TORNADOES. THIS STATEMENT WILL BE UPDATED
AS NEW INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE.

THIS IS THE FIRST TORNADO OF THE SEASON, NOT ONLY IN ONTARIO BUT IN
ALL OF CANADA. THE SUMMER SEVERE WEATHER SEASON NORMALLY BEGINS IN
LATE APRIL AND ENDS IN EARLY OCTOBER. ONTARIO SEES AN AVERAGE OF 12
TORNADOES EACH YEAR. THIS TORNADO ALSO REPRESENTS THE FIRST TORNADO
IN CANADA TO BE RATED USING THE ENHANCED FUJITA (EF) SCALE AS OPPOSED
TO THE ORIGINAL FUJITA SCALE. THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ADOPTED
THE EF SCALE IN 2007 AND ENVIRONMENT CANADA HAS MONITORED ITS USE
SINCE THAT TIME AND HAS DECIDED TO ALSO ADOPT THIS SCALE BEGINNING
THIS YEAR. THE TYPES OF DAMAGE PRODUCED BY TORNADOES ON EITHER THE
ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE OR THE ORIGINAL FUJITA SCALE ARE SIMILAR.
HOWEVER, THE WIND SPEEDS OF THE VARIOUS CATEGORIES HAVE BEEN ADJUSTED
BASED ON THE BEST AVAILABLE KNOWLEDGE CONCERNING THE WINDS REQUIRED
TO DAMAGE STRUCTURES, VEHICLES AND TREES.

THIS WEATHER SUMMARY CONTAINS PRELIMINARY INFORMATION AND MAY NOT
CONSTITUTE AN OFFICIAL OR FINAL REPORT.

END/OSPC