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Findings & Summary of Randy Mawson
A sharp cold front crossed Southern Ontario on this date. A Watch was issued at 10:51 AM for much of Southern Ontario. The front accelerated quickly across the province producing thunderstorms. Exeter radar imagery between 3:30 PM and 4:00 PM showed a large cell tracking from just northeast of London towards the southern section of Ingersoll.
This cell grew into a mesocyclone and quickly became tornadic as it entered Oxford County. Tornadic damage occurred through the north end of of the town of Norwich and then the storm continued through Haldimand-Norfolk County creating tornadic damage at Balmoral and Dunnville. Tree damage could be seen along a path from Dunnville to Crystal Beach which is in the Niagara Region 15 Km West of Buffalo NY. Reports of tornadic damage in Crystal Beach could not be confirmed, in fact evidence indicates straight line winds in this area before it moved into New York State.
My investigation started west of Norwich at Conc. 2 Lot #32 at the intersection of Evergreen Road and County Road 13. Here I found a large barn demolished with several large trees felled. This is the point where I think the first tornadic damage occurred, although the funnel may have formed a distance west of here. There was evidence of tree damage upwind of this point.
| I inspected considerable damage at the farm of Reny Van Lagen (also west of Norwich). Mr. Van Lagen lives at R.R.#3 Norwich, Conc.3 Lot 17 on what is now called Quaker Road. Mr. Van Lagen was inside a farm vehicle drive shed when the storm hit. Large doors located on the east side of the shed were blown open uncontrollably and shortly afterwards the entire drive shed was demolished. Reny, when interviewed, said he still had ringing in his ears (the next day) from the intense whistling from the storm winds. A chicken shed was also damaged and I discovered boards (2x4s) impaled in through the west wall. Many trees were felled and a large tractor had the roof lifted off along with windows broken. Immediately after the storm hit he (Mr. Van Langen) was able to see the debris from his building being lifted upward and carried in a circular motion downwind. I discovered debris from his buildings almost 3 km away. |  |
| This is a chicken barn which was knocked off it's foundation. The interesting part of this shot is the 2X4 which is impaled through the metal siding. | |
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Roof, porch and tree damage along one of the houses which runs east/west through Norwich. |
| I continued on to Norwich where I discovered the OPP manning every road into the village. I presented my business card and explained my purpose and was allowed to enter town but was warned about debris. |
| The north end of Norwich was hit the worst. Two streets on the north end of town that run west to east had been badly affected by the tornado. Residents told me the storm hit at approximately 4:10 PM lasting only minutes. |  |
| This is the church (shot taken from the southwest corner) with the steeple missing. |
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This shot will be remembered for years to come. The Sunday school room was completely torn off the back of the church and the organ can be seen lying on the grass. |
| The streets were literally piled with downed trees, telephone poles and hydro wires. Work crews from several neighbouring communities were busily cutting and trucking away debris. I observed many trees which had been snapped off and carried, in some cases striking homes and doing structural damage. I also observed quite a number of homes where roofs had been peeled away or lifted in spots. The church at the north end of town had the steeple blown off toppling it to the ground and the meeting room at the east of the same church was completely destroyed. A piano was carried and dumped into the backyard of the church property. Most homes were also without power. |
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This is the Sunday school again from the south side of the church. |  |
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| This large tree adjacent to the church was literally pulled out of the ground and the root ball is exposed. A tree further down has been completely snapped off. | ||||
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I interviewed Mark Luciani, a salesman for DeGroote-Hill Pontiac-Buick at the south end of town. Mark keeps a camera in his desk to photograph new car buyers and was able to photograph the storm complete with funnel as it moved into town. Mark explained that the storm produced two funnels. One is evident in the photograph to the left of and a lowering is barely visible behind trees at the right of the shot. This lowering according to Mark formed a second funnel on the east side of the storm but apparently didn't last long and no damage signature could be found. According to Mark, "The funnel became less recognizable a minute or so later and it was all over". |
| A great shot of the tornado taken from the DeGroote-Hill Pontiac dealer in south Norwich. Note there are actually "sisters" in this photo. One tornado is clearly visible while the second (to the right) is hidden somewhat by the trees. | |
| As well, eight to ten new cars sitting in the car lot had windows blown out by what appears to be pressure disparities from the storm. There was no hail or debris in the south end of town.
I spoke with several eye-witnesses who saw the funnel. All accounts are similar in describing a large rotating brown funnel moving quickly through the north end of town. All reported seeing debris being lifted into the vortex although none could report a funnel at ground level. This is consistent with my findings - trees snapped at roof level and considerable roof damage. |
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| Another shot taken just moments later. Both tornado pictures were taken by Mark Luciani who is a salesman at the dealership. Notice the tail cloud forming off the funnel on the right. Cars shown in the foreground had substantial damage to the windows either from debris or incredible pressure disparities. | |
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Before leaving Norwich, I spoke with Sergeant George Musikov, Woodstock Detachment of the OPP. George, a resident of Norwich, witnessed the storm from beginning to end. He remembers seeing the storm approach about 4:15 starting with heavy rain followed by 1/2 inch hail. Following the hail, there was a noticeable brightening of skies to the west however he also noticed a funnel, completely silent moving from west to east across Norwich's north end. According to Musikov the funnel lasted only about a minute. Prior to seeing the funnel he described a lot of rag tag clouds forming and moving in rotation around the base of the storm. |
| This picture was taken east of Norwich. The siding wrapped around this tree belonged to a barn which was carried off it's foundation for about 40 yards before dropping it and destroying it. The concrete foundation floor looked to be swept completely clean. | |
I picked up my investigation where I left off the previous day, in Norwich. I obtained photographic negatives of the funnel cloud taken by Mark Luciani and proceeded east along County Road 18 towards Scotland. I observed one fallen barn owned by Dan Roswell approximately one mile east of Norwich along with considerable tree damage.
After driving several miles it was apparent I had driven outside the damage path and I decided to return to Norwich and travel further south. I drove south to Hwy #3 and travelled east towards Cayuga. I encountered the damage path again near Balmoral. I stopped at the home of Robert Martin, R.R.#3 Jarvis ON just west of the intersection of Regional Road 53. Mr. Martin had lost a garage and garden shed along with a number of trees. Debris from his garage was carried downwind and strewn for at least one kilometer. He didn't see the funnel but was able to see the approaching storm along with considerable tree debris being carried aloft and swirled about. He and his family headed indoors to safety. Several windows were broken. Robert then directed me to the home of John Booker.
| Mr. Brooker lives at R.R.#3 Cayuga, Conc.7 Lot 2, approximately 4 Km southeast of Balmoral. Mr. Brooker had considerable structural damage inflicted to his horse barn. The large horse barn was leveled with three horses trapped inside. All of the horses were saved. Most of the mature trees on his property were snapped off or uprooted and his house had been shifted off its foundation by a couple of inches. He and his family headed for the basement after upstairs windows began breaking. Once inside, basement windows also started breaking. No one was injured. It lasted only a minute or so and they emerged to find considerable damage to the farm. |  |
| This is a large barn that was levelled near Balmoral (east of Simcoe along Hwy #3). Six horses were trapped inside this barn and had to be removed (without major injury) by firemen, farmers and veterinarians. | |
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This is all that was left of a garage moments after the twister struck. |
| I stopped at another home about two miles further south (near Kohler) and photographed a large garage toppled onto a car. No one was home and I was unable to interview anyone but I snapped a picture. |
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From here I traveled Hwy #17 winding along the Grand River into Dunnville. I met up with Dean Glenney who lives at R.R.#5 Dunnville, ON. Mr. Glenney had called RCTO with a damage report and I discovered two large barns leveled at his location. One barn, newly renovated and the other, a large storage barn had both been destroyed in the storm with debris being carried for approximately 3 Km. He also had considerable tree damage and a gazebo destroyed. |
| This large implement barn was completely destroyed. It is located just west of Dunneville along Hwy #3. This is one of two barns destroyed at the same property | |
| I went into Dunnville to meet with the mayor and the town municipal office for a briefing on what areas had seen storm damage. The mayor was not present but I spoke with Mike Fullerton, Public Works Superintendent. He told me about the damage at the Glenney farm but said that other than a few downed trees in Dunnville he knew of no other damage. |  |
| This picture was taken from Hwy #3 (near Dunneville) looking north at a large barn toppled by the twister. | |
I proceeded along Hwy #3 east towards Crystal Beach where Environment Canada had also received reports of storm damage. All along Hwy #3, I saw evidence of spotty tree damage. Within Crystal Beach itself, I found little damage to speak of. There were trees down in several places. I spoke with Fort Erie Public Works staff who said there was much tree damage through the area. One worker remarked that all the trees were pointing towards the southeast, indicating to me that most of the damage occurred as a result of straight line winds along the gust front.
In my opinion, an F1 tornado did form and move over the Town of Norwich. All evidence indicates that the tornado never got firmly planted on the ground, but rather moved across at tree top level or slightly lower. An F1 tornado is consistent with the damage I observed:
- barns and garages heavily damaged;
- roof surfaces peeled;
- trees snapped off or uprooted;
- telephone poles snapped;
- cars blown around.
Winds in an F1 tornado can reach 180 km/h and I feel that this tornado approached the high end. There is evidence in unprotected rural areas to suggest that the tornado was approaching F2 strength. I photographed barns which had been completely removed from foundations and deposited several hundred feet away.
There was a considerable damage trail extending from Norwich to Crystal Beach, the majority of which was tree damage or in some cases light to moderate roof damage. The exception to this is the stretch from Balmoral to just west of Dunnville where it appears another F1 tornado did form and create damage at sporadic intervals.
Written by Randy Mawson.
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