UPDATE: Severe thunderstorm warning ends for Ottawa

A severe thunderstorm warning has ended for Ottawa, however, Environment Canada has issued a tornado warning for parts of eastern Ontario, while a tornado watch remains in effect for Ottawa and surrounding areas. 

The advisory came just before 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 16, and noted that conditions are favourable for possibly one tornado or two, with wind gusts between 90 km/h to 110 km/h while producing nickel to ping pong size hail. 

“Conditions are favourable for the development of severe thunderstorms which may produce tornadoes,” the Environment Canada advisory stated. “Strong winds, large hail and heavy rain are also possible.”

“Large hail can damage property and cause injury,” Environment Canada said. “Strong wind gusts can toss loose objects, damage weak buildings, break branches off trees and overturn large vehicles. Remember, severe thunderstorms can produce tornadoes. Severe thunderstorm warnings are issued when imminent or occurring thunderstorms are likely to produce or are producing one or more of the following: large hail, damaging winds, torrential rainfall.”

CityNews meteorologist Natasha Ramsahai told The Sam Laprade Show on Thursday, June 16 that the tornado watch could have been issued a little earlier. 

“We already started to see the storms popping when the watch was issued,” she said. “If that could have been issued a little bit earlier in the day, a good four to six hours in advance, that could have prepared people and they would have time to get to the store and get batteries or something like that.”

Ramsahai emphasized that Ottawa is under a tornado watch, not a warning. 

“We are forecasting tornado warnings and putting them out with the precision that the National Weather Service in the United States was doing in the 90s,” she said. 

Hydro Ottawa said its crews are ready for the weather event, adding crews are on standby and ready to respond. If outages to happen, Hydro Ottawa said it will provide restoration times after it has assessed the extent of the damage. The utility company is also warning customers should also be prepared to experience longer outages. 

Listen to the full interview with Natasha Ramsahai below: