Researchers say Ottawa storm winds reached 190 km/h but no tornado touched down
Posted May 25, 2022 01:55:00 PM.
Researchers at Western University say wind speeds reached a maximum 190 km/h during a powerful storm that swept through Ottawa over the long weekend, but a tornado never touched down.
An investigation by the Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP) shows that a particularly intense downburst, not a tornado, was responsible for the damage during the storm, known as a derecho. A downburst is a strong downward current of air, usually associated with intense rain or a thunderstorm. The Weather Network describes a derecho a group of thunderstorms that produces a swath of downburst winds that cause intermittent damage along a path over 600 km long and 100 km wide.
The NTP says the storm, that struck Ottawa on Saturday May 21, has been measured as an EF-2 on a scale measuring the intensity of wind damage. “Intermittent intense damage along a path ~5 km wide continues ENE at least as far as Plantagenet. Additional details on that damage will be forthcoming.”
An NTP storm survey team investigated damage in southern Ottawa following the May 21 derecho. Analysis of the data reveals that a particularly intense downburst, not a tornado, was responsible for the damage there, with maximum wind speeds reaching 190 km/h (EF2). #ONStorm 1/2 pic.twitter.com/qCfR4XaPn5
— Northern Tornadoes Project
