Landspout Tornado Outside Of Ottawa Is The First This Year & Someone Caught It On Video

You can see the air funnel form over an open field.🌪

Tornado seen in Casselman, Ontario.

Tornado seen in Casselman, Ontario.

Contributing Writer

Many people who saw the rotating air funnel didn't believe their eyes, initially. But Canada's first tornado of 2022 has been officially recorded on May 15, and it happened a 40-minute drive from Ottawa in Casselman, Ontario.

Residents belonging to a community Facebook group started posting photos and videos of the tornado, some saying they spotted funnel formations near their homes, including one user, Lee Loyer, who caught a 24-second clip.

The project said photos and videos were taken over open fields and from residential neighbourhoods during the blustery weather event.

Western University’s Northern Tornadoes Project announced that the tornado struck at around 4 p.m. and classified it as a landspout tornado.

Over the weekend, there were several active weather warnings given around the Ottawa region.

On Sunday, The Weather Network issued a severe weather warning for the Ottawa area, indicating that wind gusts might reach up to 90 km/hr. The network warned residents that the strong winds could hurl objects, overturn vehicles, and damage property as well as trees.

At 9:30 p.m., TWN said that the severe weather warning had ended for the region.

By Sunday evening, no one had reported any injuries or damage caused by the tornado, according to the Northern Tornadoes Project.

The Network also classified the tornado as an EF0-default, meaning that it was considered weak with minimal damage.

Authorities are still investigating the event, which will include the use of satellite imaging. They are also looking into another possible landspout tornado in Kinburn, Ontario.

Canada ranks second for tornados, next to the U.S. According to The Weather Network, Canada sees roughly 60 tornados each and every year. And those averages are on the rise.

In 2021, Ontario saw the highest number of tornados in Canada with 60 of 100 incidents occurring in the province, while in 2020, the province saw 66 of the country's 103 tornados.

  • Contributing Writer Sarah Crookall (she/her) is a multimedia news reporter and contributing writer with Narcity Ottawa whose investigative work has been featured in the Toronto Star and Metroland Media. Growing up in the Toronto area, Sarah obtained an advanced diploma in journalism at Durham College, later working as news editor at the Fulcrum newspaper while she completed a psychology degree with honours at the University of Ottawa. Sarah has covered a broad range of topics from crises in youth mental health to the suspicious death of a Bengal tiger along the outskirts of Algonquin Park.

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