Windsor-Lasalle Tornadoes of 2016

The Windsor – LaSalle Tornadoes of August 24, 2016 began as a supercell thunderstorm over the Detroit River at approximately 7:10pm and quickly developed into two separate Windsor-Lasalle Tornadoes of 2016 tornadoes. The first tornado moved from the Detroit River to Islandview Marina and made landfall in LaSalle. Reaching wind speeds of up to 175km/hour, this tornado was classified an EF-1 and wreaked havoc for approximately 2km. The second tornado, classified an EF and reaching speeds of up to 220km/hour, formed and touched down around Central Avenue and E.C. Row and tore through the Riberdy Road area for about 8 km before dissipating, causing extensive damage to an industrial park and numerous homes in the area. Fortunately, there were no fatalities and only three residents were sent to hospital with injuries.

Environment Canada provided a late tornado warning, nearly 20 minutes after the first tornado made landfall, inviting criticism on the lack of sufficient warning to Essex County residents. Since this event, Environment Canada has made changes to its weather center, leading to more access to American weather resources; hopefully resulting in an improved warning system for Essex County residents.

The two tornadoes were the beginning of a larger weather event, leading to a series of storms throughout Ontario and causing extensive flooding throughout not only Windsor and LaSalle but also Kitchener and Cambridge.

Sources:

For information on the tornadoes as they occurred, see the following news articles complete with social media response as well as video footage:

For information about the aftermath of the tornadoes, see the following news articles:

For information regarding the larger scale weather event throughout Ontario, see the following Weather Network article: