First warning of the year - March 16, 2016

[Stormydude]

Not sure how to post the locations, but EC just issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Toronto and areas to the north.

Here in Kitchener, we had 30-45 seconds of near pea size hail and 70-80km/h wind gusts at quarter to 5pm. Off to a good start!

Edit: Around 6 we had another hailstorm come through, this one a bit stronger, but no wind. Then a third one formed behind and merged with it. So it ended up being a 20 min of on and off near marble hail. Lots of lightning too.

[DarkSky]

Just had rain up until noon here yesterday - some good low rumbles of thunder with it. Very windy after that though.

Warning:

267 
WUCN11 CWTO 162135
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
FOR SOUTHERN ONTARIO
ISSUED BY ENVIRONMENT CANADA
AT 5:35 P.M. EDT WEDNESDAY 16 MARCH 2016.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR:
=NEW= CITY OF TORONTO
=NEW= VAUGHAN - RICHMOND HILL - MARKHAM
=NEW= NEWMARKET - GEORGINA - NORTHERN YORK REGION
=NEW= UXBRIDGE - BEAVERTON - NORTHERN DURHAM REGION.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
==DISCUSSION==

UPDATED OR ENDED BY 7:34 P.M. EDT.

ONE OR TWO BRIEF THUNDERSTORMS ARE MOVING THROUGH PARTS OF THE 
GOLDEN HORSESHOE. LOCALIZED WIND GUSTS TO NEAR 90 KM/H AND PEA-SIZED 
HAIL ARE ASSOCIATED. THEY ARE MOVING RAPIDLY NORTHEASTWARDS AND 
SHOULD MOVE THROUGH THE AREA BY 6:30 P.M. EDT.

TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY, IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES. SEVERE 
THUNDERSTORM WARNINGS ARE ISSUED WHEN IMMINENT OR OCCURRING 
THUNDERSTORMS ARE LIKELY TO PRODUCE OR ARE PRODUCING ONE OR MORE OF 
THE FOLLOWING: LARGE HAIL, DAMAGING WINDS, TORRENTIAL RAINFALL. 
PLEASE CONTINUE TO MONITOR ALERTS AND FORECASTS ISSUED BY 
ENVIRONMENT CANADA. TO REPORT SEVERE WEATHER, SEND AN EMAIL TO 
STORM.ONTARIO(AT)EC.GC.CA OR TWEET REPORTS TO (HASH)ONSTORM. FOR 
MORE INFORMATION: 
HTTP://WWW.EMERGENCYMANAGEMENTONTARIO.CA/ENGLISH/BEPREPARED/BEPREPARED.HTML.

HTTP://WEATHER.GC.CA

END/OSPC

[Stormydude]

First confirmed tornado. Gotta say, I'm excited for this year since we got a tornado (and an EF1 at that) before spring even started. What's even crazier is that this same storm produced a nasty snowstorm to the north. So severe thunderstorms and heavy snow all in Ontario yesterday.


Weather summary
for Ontario and the National Capital Region
updated by Environment Canada
at 6:18 p.m. EDT Thursday 17 March 2016.

==Discussion==

The first tornado (EF1) of the season confirmed.

On Wednesday afternoon, Mother Nature delivered a precursor to
summer severe weather with some sporadic strong winds across
portions of Southern Ontario. A few bands of heavy showers and the
odd thunderstorm raced across the region accompanied by wind gusts
generally up to 70 or 80 km/h and many reports of small hail. There
were a few notable exceptions where the wind gusts exceeded the
warning threshold of 90 kilometres per hour along with some damage.
An Environment Canada survey team assessed the damage to two
partially constructed new homes in Brampton and concluded it was
caused by a downburst (straight-line winds) of 80 to 90 km/h.

They also assessed damage to the northwest of Mount Forest. An EF1
tornado has been confirmed 7 kilometres northeast of Clifford. It
occurred around 3:30 P.M. EDT Wednesday afternoon, and was about 3.5
kilometres long and up to 200 metres wide. Three bolted-down grain
bins were ripped off of their cement bases and blown up to 200
metres away. The corner of a barn was also severely damaged. A
number of mature trees were snapped off or blown over. The wind was
estimated at 170 kilometres per hour. The EF scale is the Enhanced
Fujita scale and rates the strength of tornadoes based on the damage
they cause. The high end of the EF1 range is between 155 and 175
kilometres per hour.

Meanwhile in Northwestern Ontario, the intense disturbance
responsible for the summerlike thunderstorms in Southern Ontario
delivered a mantle of fresh deep snow.

The following is a summary of weather event information received by
Environment Canada as of 9:30 A.M. EDT this morning.

1. Summary of damage or wind gusts in kilometres per hour:

Sarnia: 96 at 2:06 P.M. EDT.
7 kilometres northeast of Clifford: Damage to a barn and a number of
farm buildings and some trees toppled near 3:50 P.M. EDT.
Brampton: Two houses under construction damaged around 5:20 P.M.
EDT.
Toronto Pearson Airport: 96 at 5:31 P.M. EDT.

2. Summary of snowfall amounts in centimetres:
Thunder Bay: 33
Hazelwood (north of Thunder Bay): 28.4
Downtown Thunder Bay CoCoRaHS report: 40
Lakehead University Thunder Bay CoCoRaHS report: 28.5
35 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay: 16 to 20 (estimated)
Mine Centre: 24
Atikokan: 20 (estimated)
Fort Frances: 16 (estimated)
Kenora: 13

CoCoRaHS is a recognized volunteer weather observing network, which
stands for Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and snow Network.

Please note that this summary may contain preliminary or unofficial
information and does not constitute a complete or final report.

End/OSPC