Tornado/severe weather question

[Bede]

I live in Thunder Bay. Last night we had a line of severe thunderstorms pass through.

On my street (rural, wooded area), the weather system took out a swath of trees about 1 km long. Some trees were uprooted, but others were just snapped in half. You can see a clear line through the forest of trees down. They're not all down, but the line is definitely noticeable as the trees are thinner in the swath. Thankfully no property damage.

I'm curious about the weather phenomenon. The swatch suggests a small tornado but my family was watching the trees come down all at once (they actually got it on video) and there doesn't seem to be a tornado in the video. I considered a severe microburst, but the linear pattern suggests otherwise.

Any other ideas?

[BigQ]

Look at the downed trees and their pattern. Because 95% of North American tornadoes are anti-clockwise in their circulation, you should have trees on the south side of the swath having fallen towards the east, and trees on the north side falling west. If they all point in the same direction, you got yourself a microburst/straight line winds

[CpnCrunch]

Sounds like a severe squall line, or derecho, or similar thing we wouldn't want to fly anywhere near:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squall_li ... 0downburst.

Lots of articles on this in AOPA pilot (and I think I read one a month ago which discussed both these phenomena). Lots of information, but I think these kinds of things are pretty easy to spot on any kind of radar, and easily avoided.

[CaptNerdly]

Sounds like a derecho. Strong straight line wind.

[pelmet]

I live in Thunder Bay. Last night we had a line of severe thunderstorms pass through.

On my street (rural, wooded area), the weather system took out a swath of trees about 1 km long. Some trees were uprooted, but others were just snapped in half. You can see a clear line through the forest of trees down. They're not all down, but the line is definitely noticeable as the trees are thinner in the swath. Thankfully no property damage.

I'm curious about the weather phenomenon. The swatch suggests a small tornado but my family was watching the trees come down all at once (they actually got it on video) and there doesn't seem to be a tornado in the video. I considered a severe microburst, but the linear pattern suggests otherwise.

Any other ideas?

I was literally in a tornado once. It turned out that it was an F0 on the Fujita scale(according to the news I read later on). A couple of trees blown over onto the house I was in caused damage and there was some other damage nearby. The same weather system caused a much larger amount of damage on the other side of town. Environment Canada labelled that a severe microburst. I doubt it was that much different of an experience for those in either damaging winds(and their experience might have been worse) but Environment Canada has their technical analysis details and therefore, I get to honestly say that I was literally in a tornado(been in a couple of hurricanes as well, but never the eye).

[lownslow]

Could it be that there was a microburst but some local soil(?) phenomenon meant that those particular trees were weaker for some reason?

[DanWEC]

Is this swath maybe 100' or less wide? If so it exactly describes a tornado. I've had several go through my area in the last several years. One right through my neighborhood.
It's a surprisingly defined path. One spot through a Walmart parking lot looked like a sweeper truck drove straight across it. When it hit the area across the street it was only about 3 houses wide.

[DHC-1 Jockey]

The Northern Tornados Project (Run by Western University) is the pre-eminent tornado tracker in the country. You can report a possible tornado to them, and they’ll investigate it.

They have an interactive dashboard outlining suspected/confirmed tornadoes so far for 2024:

https://westernu.maps.arcgis.com/apps/d ... 2f5247f46d

[CpnCrunch]

Looking at the historical weather radar, it looks like a squall line, with a bow echo appearing at the bottom as it nears the water.

https://climate.weather.gc.ca/radar/ind ... THEROFFICE

[Bede]

Thanks everyone for the excellent discussion.

Here's a picture my wife took the next day of the neighbour's house. Interestingly, this swath of destruction is different than the one at our house.

20240619_204731 (2).jpg (1.61 MiB) Viewed 2156 times

[DHC-1 Jockey]

Based on my 20 year old geography degree, that could be a tornado. On the Northern Tornadoes Project website, there's lots of pictures that look just like that caused by EF-1 and EF-2 tornadoes.

I suggest you report it to them with that picture, and they'll investigate, if only to satisfy your curiosity.

[Bede]

Based on my 20 year old geography degree, that could be a tornado. On the Northern Tornadoes Project website, there's lots of pictures that look just like that caused by EF-1 and EF-2 tornadoes.

I suggest you report it to them with that picture, and they'll investigate, if only to satisfy your curiosity.

Thanks. Data submitted. Who knew that geography degree would come in so handy!

[DHC-1 Jockey]

Thanks. Data submitted. Who knew that geography degree would come in so handy!

It definitely came in handy the other week when I was trying to help my kid to pronounce "igneous" rock lol.

[co-joe]

Could it be that there was a microburst but some local soil(?) phenomenon meant that those particular trees were weaker for some reason?

That would be my guess. Microburst could flatten trees like that. Imagine what it would be like to fly into that? Thin top layer of soil could be a factor. Any time you go hiking or biking on the Lake Minnewanka trail near banff in the spring there are always 50+ new downed trees since the previous year. Just between the trail head and the ranger cabin takes Parks a month to clear.

[BigQ]

According to the picture, since all the trees are lined up in the same direction, and no damage easily visible on the house, I would classify this as a microburst, but yes, do send it to the NT project.

[cykj]

Not the first time in that area. The terminal lost a few big chunks of roof some years ago.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder- ... -1.1092826

[Bede]

I received this response from the NTP:

Thank you for submitting a report to the Northern Tornadoes Project. It's not often we receive photos from aircraft. I've added to the report to our internal investigation map from this day. I've been able to get a quick look of damage in the area on satellite imagery - it does looks like downburst damage given the extent of it (several areas of tree damage visible around the location you shared).

Thanks to everyone for your $0.02.

[pdw]

Could it be that there was a microburst but some local soil(?) phenomenon meant that those particular trees were weaker for some reason?

They may have been trimmed for max height growth … so just got too top heavy, seeing there on the photo some tall thin ones are bent but not broken. (That strong wind could have been strong under the canopy of what looks like a newer cultivated tree stand)

[Daniel Cooper]

That's a micoburst. Same thing flipped a bunch of docked float planes in Armstrong a few years back. Give Thunderstorms respect in continental areas. They can get very powerful.

[EPR]

Just for context, pdw must be an Arborist..lol, because it took me as a non-arborist... several reads before I understood what the hell he/she was talking about!..lol

[pdw]

(Planted lots of forests)

Tornado-the electric model (by Andrew Hall) is a good read.

Never imagined how the air around a super cell could be strongly accelerated by being only slightly (“one percent”) ionized

[realtor360]

It sounds like you might have experienced a straight line wind event, which can cause significant damage similar to a tornado but without the rotating column. The linear pattern of fallen trees aligns with strong, concentrated winds rather than a tornado's rotational pattern.