A short but intense spurt of extreme weather swept through the Greater Toronto-Hamilton Area Friday afternoon, downing trees and leaving thousands in the region without power.
Environment Canada issued a severe thunderstorm watch earlier in the day with the possibility of damaging wind gusts, large hail and heavy rain but it was ended just before 6 p.m.
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The national weather office said conditions were favourable for the development of dangerous thunderstorms with wind gusts of up to 100 km/h by early this evening.
Global News Chief Meteorologist Anthony Farnell said the strong winds are associated with a cold front that would track over the area and interact with near-record heat and humidity on Friday.
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By 3 p.m. on Friday, Farnell said winds were gusting to 81km/h at Toronto Pearson Airport.
Hydro One tweeted at around 3:30 p.m. that crews were already responding to over 500 outages affecting more than 51,000 customers across Ontario.
Toronto Hydro tweeted around 4 p.m. about weather related outages and said they expected 2,300 customers to be affected but later told Global News 5,400 customers were without power.
Crews were dispatched to start repairing the damage but Toronto Hydro said they can’t start in some areas until the wind weakens and some might be without power until Saturday.
As well, TTC spokesperson, Brad Ross, took to Twitter to inform riders the subway trains would be running at slower speeds due to high winds.
Environment Canada warned people to be on the lookout for loose objects tossed by the wind, which may cause injury. Damage to buildings, such as to roof shingles and windows, may also occur.
The Office of the Fire Marshal and Emergency Management recommended taking cover if threatening weather approaches.
Toronto police said the weather warning was officially over by 7 p.m. but that strong winds were still prevalent in the area.
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