The EF0 tornado caused no damage as it briefly passed near the North Bay airport at approximately 8:15 pm. It was witnessed by several area residents, appearing as a whispy white tube beneath a large fluffy wall cloud. Witnesses captured photos and video of the tornado, which exhibited slow but clear rotation.
Initially there was some question as to whether the the rotation could be considered violent, which is a necessary criteria to be classified as a tornado. However, video and radar analysis by Environment Canada officials ultimately led them to conclude that this was indeed an extremely weak tornado.
This was one of two tornadoes to touch down on July 15, 2014. The other:
- Lake Nipissing (EF0)
Figure 1 depicts the surface observations at 8:00 pm EDT, which shows an occluding low pressure system near the Ontario/Quebec border and a trough of low pressure near North Bay in central Ontario. A thunderstorm, marked as a red ‘R’, is observed in North Bay at this time. This thunderstorm was responsible for this brief tornado.
Sources
NWS Weather Prediction Center Surface Analysis Archive. (2017). Surface analysis 00Z Wed Jul 16 2014. Retrieved from: https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/archives/web_pages/sfc/sfc_archive.php
