Narrow but intense F2 tornado tracks 9km, house detroyed but homeowner unharmed
This tornado was a particularly intense landspout that formed along the Lake Erie lake breeze convergence zone. It touched down at around 1:15pm, travelled for 9km and had a width of just 20m, passing south of the small community of Avon. Upon receiving reports of the tornado, Environment Canada issued a tornado warning at 1:19pm.
Although the warning specified that the tornado was ‘weak’, in fact it was strong and damaging; it snapped and uprooted trees, damaged barns and destroyed a house. Located on Wilson Line, the well-built bungalow had its roof and some exterior walls blown away and debris scattered for hundreds of metres through area fields. Fortunately, a woman who had been inside the home drying her hair at the time escaped unharmed despite it being torn apart around her. Damage at this location was at the upper end of F2, approaching F3 intensity.
Witnesses captured video of the tornado, a classic-looking landspout with a long debris tube extending high to the cloud base; close ups of its base show violent rotation as trees and crops were torn from the ground and debris thrown. The violently rotating column exhibited classic ‘drill bit’ motion at its base, and was probably amongst the most intense landspouts.
This was one of four tornadoes to touch down in Southern Ontario on June 25; the others:
