Damage is being reported on social media after severe storms moved through parts of southern Ontario on Tuesday, which prompted Environment Canada to issue tornado warnings for some areas.
Just before 4:45 p.m., the first tornado warning was issued for Wingham, Blyth, Northern Huron County, Saugeen Shores, Kincardine and Southern Bruce County.
At 4:50 p.m., Owen Sound, Blue Mountains, and Northern Grey County were also placed under a tornado warning, along with Goderich, Bluewater, and Southern Huron County.
Hanover, Dundalk, and Southern Grey County were also added to the warning shortly after. Mount Forest, Arthur, and Northern Wellington County were also placed under a tornado warning after 5 p.m.
Tornado warnings for those areas have all since been dropped.
“The severe weather threat today is coming from an unusually strong area of low pressure near Lake Superior and a trailing cold front,” Global News meteorologist Anthony Farnell said earlier Tuesday.
“As the cold front encounters the warm and increasingly humid air across southern Ontario, storms will become severe.”
Farnell said lines of severe storms formed in Michigan and were moving across Lake Huron Tuesday afternoon.
“Damaging winds and hail along with an isolated tornado threat is likely for areas near Lake Huron,” he said.
On social media, some users posted about damage they observed after the storms moved through.
Tim Herd posted a video on Twitter that showed debris strewn throughout a farm in Lucknow, Ont., just north of Goderich.
Dave Shorey posted a photo on Twitter of damage between Sauble Beach and Southampton.
Global News also observed a damaged farm in Kingsbridge, Ont., with debris spread throughout a field and part of a roof ripped off of a building.
Hydro One’s outage map indicated that several thousand customers lost power.
A severe thunderstorm watch was issued for parts of southern Ontario earlier Tuesday, warning of the possibility of strong wind, large hail, locally heavy rainfall, and possible tornadoes for some regions in southwestern areas of the province.
The advisory stretched from the Windsor area, up to Barrie and northern Durham Region. The Peterborough area was later added to the watch. As of shortly after 8 p.m., it remained in effect, along with some severe thunderstorm warnings.
The first line of storms that had caused the damage pushed through southern Ontario and weakened before impacting the Greater Toronto Area. Radar images showed that storms continued to impact southern Ontario into the evening hours.
Toronto police said just before 8 p.m. that they had not received reports of downed power lines or trees.
Peel Regional Police tweeted that lightning struck a tree in the area of Burnhamthorpe Road and The Credit Woodlands, which subsequently landed on hydro lines. No injuries were reported in that incident.
“The storms moved quicker than anticipated – they sped across southern Ontario,” Global News weather specialist Ross Hull said.
“The leading edge of the storms has moved through much of the GTA already … The threat for severe storms has eased across much of the GTA with lingering showers remaining in the wake of that initial stronger line that moved through earlier this evening.”
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