Two tornadoes touched down near Kingston cause over 18km of damage
Posted Jul 6, 2026 01:33:36 PM.
Last Updated Jul 6, 2026 02:17:46 PM.
Researchers say a pair of tornadoes touched down in eastern Ontario about a week ago, snapping trees and badly damaging barn roofs.
On June 30, a fast-moving system in Kingston was warned by Environment Canada that it could produce a tornado, prompting a red-level warning from the agency.
“Damaging winds, large hail and locally intense rainfall are also possible,” it noted at the time.
What transpired over a few hours was huge wind gusts, large amounts of rainfall and two twisters that were produced by the increasing temperatures clashing with a cold front.
A week later, the Northern Tornadoes Project, the research initiative at the University of Western Ontario, said no injuries were reported from the tornadoes that formed along the leading edge of the afternoon thunderstorm from Verona to Kingston.
The first tornado formed near Verona and tracked for 18 kilometres southeast through the Hartington and Harrowsmith areas, with a maximum path width of around a half kilometre.
The researchers say the EF1 tornado hit wind speeds around 150 km/h, damaging trees and farms.
Pieces of two barns with destroyed roofs were flung into a neighbouring field in the worst damage noted by the organization.
The team says a second tornado in Kingston at the lowest rating of EF0 created a long path of tree damage from around Silver Corners to the Canadian Forces Base Kingston, reaching estimated wind speeds of about 115 km/h.
