4 tornadoes hit eastern Ontario on day of Barrhaven storm, investigators find
Weak tornadoes confirmed to the southeast of Ottawa near Embrun and Fournier
Two more tornadoes touched down in eastern Ontario on the same day that two ripped through Ottawa's Barrhaven neighbourhood, according to a new investigation.
In a Wednesday blog post, the Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP), a research group founded by Western University, said two weak tornadoes touched down southeast of Ottawa on July 13.
One struck Embrun, Ont., and another struck between Fournier and St-Bernardin, Ont.
A ground and drone survey team visited damaged sites at those locations and confirmed the tornadoes had occurred, the NTP said.
The two tornadoes outside Ottawa were not as strong as those that hit Barrhaven on the same day.
The Barrhaven tornadoes damaged at least 125 homes and reached an estimated maximum wind speed of 155 km/h. That speed categorizes them as EF1 on the enhanced Fujita scale, a measure used to gauge the strength of twisters.
By contrast, those in Embrun and Fournier only reached a categorization of EF0 on the same scale.
In Embrun, the tornado started around 1 p.m. last Thursday and reached an estimated top wind speed of 125 km/h. The NTP survey found a narrow track of tree damage and some minor roof damage to several homes.
In Fournier, the tornado started just before 2 p.m. and caused visible damage to trees and crops in the area. It reached a top wind speed of 115 km/h.
The NTP has tracked more than two dozen tornadoes in the region since 2018.
