Northern Tornadoes Project. Northern Tornadoes Flyover Project: Summary Technical Report of the Year 1 Pilot Study
12 January 2018 The objectives of the Year 1 Pilot Study were to (i) develop a methodology for determining tornado occurrence in Northern Ontario, and (ii) obtain research quality data for at least one event. Because of the isolation of many regions, the approach assumed the use of radar data analysis combined with aerial surveys. These objectives were achieved. Aerial surveys were conducted for a total of seven events in Ontario and southern Quebec and 15 confirmed or probable tornadoes identified. Archival geo-tagged imagery was obtained for six of these events. Ten confirmed or probable tornadoes were identified in Ontario, five of which were not in the OSPC database. In addition, 5 tornadoes were confirmed in Quebec. For the 2017 season, the OSPC had a list of 10 verified tornadoes, as of December 21, 2017. The pilot project raises this number to 15. In total, 4 EF2 tornadoes and 1 EF3 tornado were identified via aerial photography. The remainder were EF1 or EF0. UPDATE – 23 April 2018 Based on the analysis of newly available Planet.com high-resolution satellite imagery and related tools, several events were reassessed and a number of additional tornadoes were discovered. Overall, an additional three tornadoes were added to 2017 count. The updated events are listed in a revised 2017 summary table appended at the end of this document.