Neustadt, ON


Minor damage to trees & property as F0 tornado touches down in Neustadt area


This tornado was captured in photos by this author, CANWARN spotter and storm chaser Travis Farncombe, as it touched down near Neustadt. In the mid afternoon, a supercell developed in Bruce County and became tornado-warned as it approached Grey County.

Near the community of Neustadt, the storm’s RFD interacted with its updraft and formed a classic horseshoe-shaped base. Rotation intensified and a wall cloud quickly developed as a clear slot wrapped around the tightening circulation. Soon a barrel-shaped tornado descended.

This F0 tornado (photo by Travis Farncombe) touched down near Neustadt in Southern Ontario on August 24, 2011, just three days after an F3 struck Goderich
An F0 tornado, one of three to occur throughout Southern Ontario on August 24, is seen touching down in the Neustadt area. Travis Farncombe.

The tornado’s funnel condensed almost all way to the ground, while a faint and misty debris cloud could be seen rising from the tree tops. It was visible for several minutes before being obscured by rain.

An Environment Canada damage survey found that the tornado had a path that was 3km long and 200m wide, along which a children’s play set was knocked over and destroyed, and trees were snapped, uprooted and stripped of their branches.

This was one of three tornadoes that touched down on August 24, 2011. The others occurred at Cambridge – Burlington (F1) and Nairn (F1). In addition, this event occurred just a few days after the deadly and destructive tornado that ravaged Goderich (F3) on August 21, leaving tornado-weary Ontarians with frayed nerves.