Funnel Cloud Spotted In Whitby
Posted June 14, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Environment Canada issued a bulletin around 1pm, advising residents of the sighting, but adding it wasn’t likely to develop into anything further. The federal forecaster issued a severe thunderstorm warning for parts of Pickering, Oshawa and Southern Durham Region, noting only that any bad weather wouldn’t likely last more than an hour.
The potentially heavy weather carried with it the prospect of some damaging winds that could have produced a tornado. The weather experts blame a lake breeze front for the temporary anomaly, a risk that occurs whenever the temperatures start to warm up.
“There has been no report of that actually touching down, but we must remember that we are in summer severe weather season now,” reminds Sarah Wong of Environment Canada.
The weather woman notes it’s not all that unusual for a funnel cloud to be seen in the G.T.A.
“The fact that we actually had a report of a funnel cloud goes to show that we are in summer severe weather season. On average, Ontario gets around 14 tornadoes a year, and so far Ontario has reported one confirmed tornado on May 16th. It was an F-0.”
But it almost certainly won’t be the final one.
After last week’s unexpected cold snap, the G.T.A. is expected to be sweltering in the heat by the weekend. Temperatures could be in the upper 20s with humidex values reaching the 30s.
What should you do in the event of a tornado? Here’s what Wong recommends.
“They have to be in a safe, secure building. Go to the lowest floor, hopefully the basement, and try to be in as small a room as possible, such as a bathroom or a closet because they’re the sturdiest place to be in a building.
“If you’re outside, get out of your cars because we had reports of tornadoes tossing around cars like little car toys so that’s definitely not the safest place to be. You want to go lie flat in a ditch and cover your head if at all possible.”
