A F3 Tornado Ripped Through Downtown Goderich Ontario

[Cyclenall]

Well, Deja Vu for me because just 2 years and 1 day ago something similar to this hit not too far away from me and now it has happened again! A powerful tornado hit Goderich yesterday causing a worst case scenario for the town. I've seen tons of bad storms on radar hit Goderich but never a tornado. On radar apparently it had a hook echo and strong rotation and Environment Canada issued a tornado warning at 3:48 pm EDT while the actual tornado hit at 4:00 pm EDT. I think it was slightly before or after that time. It was a supercell coming SW towards Goderich from upper MI. It was Ontario's strongest tornado in 15 years rated a F3 (which I 100% agree with). Here are the stats on it:

Deaths: 1
Injured: 37-40
Damage: $130 million
Businesses affected: 150
Length of Path: 19.5 km
Duration: Unknown (around 15-20 minutes on landmass)
Forward Speed: 75 km/h
Maximum Width: Unknown (looks like 1.5 km)
Strength: F3
Time: Sunday August 21, 2011 4:00 pm EDT
Type of Tornado: Trunk/Small Wedge

I'm completely amazed at how much destruction this twister caused. I don't even remember severe weather or even thunderstorms being in the forecast for southern Ontario so where this came from I don't know. Same thing August 20, 2009 which caught me off guard too. Here is a meteorological analysis of how this occurred: http://canadiantexan.posterous.com/the- ... -on-tornad

Sad News Note: Jack Layton of the NDP party passed away today from cancer at age 61...the same age as the man who died in yesterday's tornado in Goderich. Man, so much breaking and huge news at once.

[Cyclenall]

Update: I've updated the information on this historical event. This was basically Canada's mini-Joplin and yet no one commented. I still can't believe it happened so out of the blue like that, everything just came together at the perfect time.

[Hybridstorm_November2001]

Thanks for keeping us updated. I couldn't believe this when it happened last year. Usually you just do not see tornado damage like the event in question that far north.

[HurricaneBill]

Thanks for keeping us updated. I couldn't believe this when it happened last year. Usually you just do not see tornado damage like the event in question that far north.

On August 20, 1970, an F3 tornado struck the city of Sudbury, Ontario. It left 6 dead and 200 injured.

[Hybridstorm_November2001]

Thanks for keeping us updated. I couldn't believe this when it happened last year. Usually you just do not see tornado damage like the event in question that far north.

On August 20, 1970, an F3 tornado struck the city of Sudbury, Ontario. It left 6 dead and 200 injured.

Thanks for the info, being from the Maritimes my special weather interests are more nor'easters & northern hurricanes (I can tell you pretty much everyone of both which had major effects on this region during the past roughly 300 years). Though I don't know nearly as much about tornadoes, even Canadian or New England ones.

[Cyclenall]

Update: I've updated the information 1 year after it struck to change the damage from $75-100 million to $130 million which I think is the final total.

The Canadian news media did a huge tribute yesterday on the Goderich tornado and one of the local stations did most of their broadcast on it. They had some survivor stories including a security guard who flew in a small building (shed size) over 300 feet! I did catch one error from CTV2 London coverage...the woman explaining the timeline said it was a hot day (it was a coolish day, I remember it).