Canadian Tornado, TPS Reports, Lost

While I was busy collating my TPS reports this afternoon Carl scooped me on this.

Apparently not only did Ontario get snow on Wednesday, they got a tornado! That's according to an article by my friends at CTV (who I spoke to, on-air during Hurricane Katrina) and other sources.

Ontario Twister - November 11, 2005 - A construction worker covers up the roof of a home on Berko Avenue in Hamilton, Ont. on Thursday, Nov. 10, 2005. Environment Canada confirms a minor twister went through the city Wednesday afternoon. (AP Photo/Nathan Denette)

Several of those links are carrying pictures of the damage. These sources say that Environment Canada has confirmed that an F1, or "Level 1"* tornado ripped through Hamilton, tearing roofs off of structures and mangling cars. Tornadoes are not uncommon in Canada - one amateur storm chaser site has documented 49 so far this year.

*Some of our northern friends say "Level 1" to mean "F1", as tornadoes in Canada are also measured by the Fujita Scale.

TODAY IN WEATHER HISTORY: Today is the 30th anniversary of the sinking of the SS Edumnd Fitzgerland on Lake Superior. I won't go into details here because I'm not a big history buff and Carl's blog entry has graphics and additional information.

LOST WITHOUT "LOST": Proving that severe weather can be both spectacular and evil, there was much fretting today at AccuWeather because last night's storm knocked out ABC's local equipment, causing most of the latest episode of the show to be mostly blank. A quick check with a local ABC employee confirmed that they could not re-run the episode because of licensing issues. Rumor has it that our receptionist has a copy of it on tape, and if so then she will undoubtedly be swarmed by many of my friends while I'm out at an all-day meeting tomorrow. Maybe I'll get a shot at seeing it next week.