Drag Lake, ON F1 Tornado of August 2, 2006

Haliburton


The tornado formed at 7:40 pm and had a path that was 11.5 kilometres long and between 500 metres and 1 kilometre in width. Hydro poles were knocked down and trees snapped and uprooted, many of which fell on and damaged houses and vehicles.

This was one of 17 tornadoes that touched down in Southern and Eastern Ontario during the evening hours of August 2, 2006. Until it was surpassed in 2009, the tornado outbreak set a record as the largest tornado outbreak ever recorded in Ontario.

Figure 1 depicts the surface observations at 5:00 pm EDT, which shows a low pressure over Georgian Bay with a cold front stretching into Michigan. This cold front became the focus for intense thunderstorms in the evening hours of August 2nd, which ultimately led to a tornado outbreak across southern Ontario.

Figure 1. Surface analysis at 21Z on August 2, 2006 showing mean sea-level pressure (MSLP) contours, surface observations, fronts and pressure centres (WPC, 2017)

According to Environment and Climate Change Canada (2018), an F1 tornado touched down at 7:50 pm near Drag Lake, ON. The tornado travelled for 11.5 km with a maximum width of 500 metres. The tornado caused no fatalities, injuries or property damage.


Sources

NWS Weather Prediction Center Surface Analysis Archive. (2017). Surface analysis 21Z Wed Aug 2 2006. Retrieved from: https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/archives/web_pages/sfc/sfc_archive.php

Environment and Climate Change Canada Data. (2018). Canadian National Tornado Database: Verified Events (1980-2009) – Public. Retrieved from: http://donnees.ec.gc.ca/data/weather/products/canadian-national-tornado-database-verified-events-1980-2009-public/