Barrhaven was struck by 2 tornadoes, researchers say
Maximum wind speed estimated at 155 km/h
The south Ottawa suburb of Barrhaven was hit by not one but two tornadoes on Thursday, researchers have confirmed.
The Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP) released an investigation report Saturday concluding that both tornadoes had a maximum estimated wind speed of 155 km/h.
That puts them in the EF1 category under the enhanced Fujita scale, which is used to measure the strength of tornadoes.
The organization, which was founded at Western University in 2017 to improve the understanding of tornadoes and other severe weather events, surveyed damage and reviewed videos shot in Barrhaven.
"We received two separate videos of funnel clouds and potential damage areas," said Francis Lavigne-Thériault, a research associate with NTP.
"So our ground survey crews went and checked out those two locations — and sure enough, they found damage that was associated with the funnel clouds. That's what led us to believe that there's two tornadoes that happened, rather than what we previously thought was only one."
Crossing paths not uncommon
NTP found the main path of tornado damage ran for about five kilometres, with a maximum width of 200 metres. A second path just one kilometre long was caused by a slightly earlier twister, NTP said.
Along both paths, homes sustained roof damage and broken windows.
The first tornado was found to have travelled from the southwest, leaving the worst damage in the area of Halley Street. The second tornado came from the south, crossing the first twister's path and hitting an area further south around Regulus Ridge most severely.
Lavigne-Thériault said NTP just completed a study that looked at satellite imagery of tornado tracks captured over the past 30 years, and it shows that two storms crossing over isn't that unusual.
"It's just a coincidence that a tornado happens here, and then another storm forms and then it just happens to cross the path," he said.
"It's fairly common, it's not something that's really rare."
NTP said its survey team will continue to investigate damage over the weekend and that its assessments of the lengths and widths are preliminary.
It also looked into a tornado that struck Mirabel, Que., the same day as the Barrhaven storm.
With files from Natalia Goodwin, Arthur White-Crummey and Rebecca Kwan