Ontario bears brunt of severe weather in August

Ontario bore the brunt of severe weather in August, with a tornado tally of 13 – more than the average for the whole of tornado season, according to Environment Canada’s Ontario Weather Review.
Ontario normally averages 12 tornadoes during a season that runs from late April to early October. There were no tornadoes reported in August 2010.
“With only three tornadoes confirmed up until Aug. 7 of this year, the tornado season in Ontario had experienced a quiet start,” the review says. “However, the season became much more active between Aug. 8 and Aug. 24, when 10 more tornadoes occurred across the province.”
The most powerful of these tornadoes occurred on Aug. 21, when an F3 tornado tore through downtown Goderich, Ontario.
While northern Ontario experienced an unusually dry summer – North Bay, for example, had its driest summer since 2002, with only 50 mm of precipitation (half of normal levels) – parts of southern Ontario were soaked.
London experienced its wettest summer since 1992, with 122.3 mm of rain – 37 mm more than normal levels of precipitation.