Weather Summaries

Weather summary
for Ontario and the National Capital Region
issued by Environment Canada
at 3:36 a.m. EDT Thursday 26 May 2022.

Discussion.

A derecho, which is a widespread long-lived windstorm associated 
with a line of thunderstorms, developed near Sarnia late Saturday 
morning and tracked northeastward over Southern Ontario, crossing 
Ottawa Saturday afternoon. Damaging wind gusts were reported over a 
large swath of Southern Ontario as the severe thunderstorms raced 
through. 

After a preliminary analysis of the extensive damage in Uxbridge, 
Ontario, Western University's Northern Tornadoes Project Team has 
officially confirmed an EF2 tornado was embedded within the leading 
edge of the derecho. The tornado occurred at approximately 1:15 PM 
EDT on Saturday afternoon in Uxbridge and was found to have a 
maximum wind speed of 195 kilometres per hour. 

The Northern Tornadoes Project Team has also confirmed that an 
intense EF2 downburst occurred in Southern Ottawa on Saturday with 
maximum wind speeds reaching 190 kilometres per hour. This downburst 
was responsible for substantial amounts of damage including downed 
hydro towers. 

There have been at least ten fatalities reported as a result of the 
strong winds with this line of thunderstorms. There was also 
extensive damage to trees, power lines and buildings. There were 
also overturned cars reported as well as widespread power outages. 

More than 1,000,000 customers were without power from this storm 
Saturday. Power outages continue in many areas today. 

The following is a summary of peak wind gusts observed with this 
line of thunderstorms in kilometres per hour: 

Kitchener - Waterloo Airport 132 
Ottawa International Airport 120 
Toronto Pearson International Airport 120 
Toronto Buttonville Airport 110 
Brantford Airport 104 
Uxbridge 100 
Elora 99 
Ottawa Central Experimental Farm 93 
Gatineau 90 
Oshawa Airport 89 
Toronto Island Airport 89 
Trenton 83 
Guelph 83 

Western University's Northern Tornadoes Project continues to 
investigate whether there were additional tornadoes or downbursts 
embedded in the Derecho. We'd like to thank them for their hard work 
in assessing the damage from this impactful storm. 

We at Environment and Climate Change Canada would also like to thank 
all those who have taken time to send reports when safe to do so. 
Reports such as pictures and videos can be sent to Environment and 
Climate Change Canada by emailing onstorm@ec.gc.ca or tweeting with 
the hashtag #ONStorm.

Please note that this summary may contain preliminary or unofficial 
information and does not constitute a complete or final report.

End/OSPC