Golfer Struck By Lightning As Wild Weather Strikes GTA

Several days of hot, humid weather culminated with a severe thunderstorm watch issued for most of the province on Monday, and in the GTA the wicked weather left one unlucky man in a precarious state.

The 46-years-old victim was enjoying a round of golf at the Royal Woodbine course near Highways 401 and 427 when he was struck by a bolt of lightning on the 11th hole.

“There was a lightning strike close to one of the golfers that hit the ground, travelled through the ground and knocked him off his feet,” confirmed Toronto Police Sgt. Brian James.

Ambulance officials said the man was conscious but couldn’t walk and was complaining of numb feet and breathing difficulties.  Apparently his clothes were still smoking when emergency crews arrived, but he’s expected to be just fine.

But that lucky and unlucky man wasn’t the only one affected by a surprise bolt. An apparent lightning strike caused delays on the GO Transit line at Union Station. The Richmond Hill, Georgetown and Milton routes were all backed up from 20 to 40 minutes.

Monday’s watch follows some wild weekend weather and Environment Canada has confirmed that a tornado touched down in Lucan, north of London on Sunday.

Despite just the one confirmed twister, several funnel clouds were reported around southern Ontario, and strong winds did some damage to homes and property in Tupperville, Dresden and Dutton. Trees were toppled when gusts clocked between 115 and 130km/h were recorded.

According to forecasters, more violent weather could be on the way and several cities have been under a thunderstorm watch for much of the day.

The sticky and hot air mass that saw temperatures soar to 33C and humidex readings close to 40 in some places could produce potentially heavy downpours and damaging winds that could gust as high as 140 kilometres an hour. Golfball-sized hail is also possible.

( What’s the difference between a watch and a warning?)

It takes in Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Markham, Newmarket, as well as Peel, York, Halton and Durham regions.

The problems with these storms, in addition to their intenstity, is that they often come up without much warning. So pay close attention to changing conditions from above, especially if skies go from clear one second to cloudy and ominous the next.

Paramedics respond to more heat calls than usual

GTA getting off easy as terrible storms devastate parts of U.S.

What to do if a tornado strikes

How they measure tornado strengths

Check the seven-day forecast

CityNews.ca’s Summer Survival Guide


Areas covered by the watch:

GTA

Halton
Markham
Newmarket
Northern Durham Region
Peel
Richmond Hill
Uxbridge
Vaughan
Northern York region

Outside of GTA

Arthur
Beaverton
Brant
Cambridge
Chatham-Kent
Southern Dufferin County
Erin
Essex
Georgina
Grand Valley
Guelph
Hamilton
Innisfil
Kawartha Lakes
Kitchener-Waterloo
Lambton
Listowel
London
Middlesex
Milverton
Mitchell
Mount Forest
Orangeville
Oxford
Northern Perth County
Southern Perth County
Peterborough
Sarnia
Stratford
Waterloo
Windsor
Northern Wellington County
Southern Wellington County

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