It's Emergency Preparedness Week, and your help is needed on a related letter-writing campaign. ECCC has decided to shut down its long-standing radar research program. This affects severe weather warnings, and the work of the NTP and its partners. Details here: actionnetwork.org/letters/reve...

Congratulations to our newest NTP Super-Contributors: Patrice Bois (QC) Joey 'Only' Johnson (BC) Justin Oertel (MB), and Brandon Houck (AB) We're happy to have you on board - and your NTP ball caps will be shipped soon! Interested in becoming an NTP Super-Contributor? uwo.ca/ntp/faqs/how...

Congratulations to the Northern Tornadoes Project's latest Super-Contributor, Douglas Archibald from SW Ontario. He's a long-time spotter and will help the NTP to track down tornadoes in that area. He'll also receive an NTP ball cap! Interested in becoming an NTP S-C? Details uwo.ca/ntp/faqs/how...

An unusually active and destructive start to the tornado season in the northern U.S. has many Canadians wondering what's in store north of the border. Watch more video: https://ow.ly/XrYc50YzWMC

A summary of the 2025 activities of the Northern Tornadoes Project is included in the first #CSSL Annual Report. Readers may notice that there are two new tornadoes that have been added for 2025 - both in northwestern Ontario - bringing the total to 116. Details here: uwo.ca/ntp/blog/202...

The Northern Mesonet Project at the Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory (@cssl.ca) is looking for a Research Software Engineer to join our team! Please feel free to share with anyone who may be interested! You can find the details of the position (ID# 41923) here: www.uwo.ca/hr/working/s...

🎻A viola quartet from Western recently took the stage at the 50th International Viola Congress in Paris, joining hundreds of violists from around the world. Four music students, along with prof Sharon Wei, performed "Sounding Tornadoes", a lecture recital collaboration with @westernuntp.bsky.social

Heads up - the first info session for the CSSL Summer Internship Program is tonight! Find the details here: uwo.ca/cssl/interns...

Dive into real-world research and fieldwork with the CSSL Summer Internship Program! Learn more and apply here: uwo.ca/cssl/interns... Don't miss your chance to gain hands-on experience with leading tornado and hail experts in the field. Applications close on January 26th.

These papers highlight complementary remote sensing approaches that can help improve spatial coverage and consistency of tornado intensity assessments. Grateful for @cssl.ca team who made these studies possible!

"Evaluating the Utility of NDVI as a Damage Indicator for Crops in the Enhanced Fujita Scale" tests how NDVI changes can be used to identify crop damage from tornadoes, describes limitations, and shows how NDVI can supplement ground surveys in agricultural areas (doi.org/10.1175/JAMC...).

"Synthetic Aperture Radar as a Tool for Tornado Classification in Forested Areas" demonstrates how SAR can reveal tornado damage signatures in strong tornadoes, offering a way to provide EF-scale ratings in heavily forested regions where optical imagery struggles (doi.org/10.1080/0703...).

I'm happy to share two @cssl.ca open-access remote sensing papers that are both related to alternative methods of classifying tornado damage! 🧵:

The NTP has confirmed 6 more Prairie tornadoes with ratings EF2 to EF0-Default. Four are based on AI-assisted satellite review of forest areas in AB / SK while two (plus an update of an existing tornado) in AB are based on reports from Riley Weekes. Details: uwo.ca/ntp/blog/202... #ABstorm #SKstorm

The NTP has confirmed 11 new ON tornadoes based on AI-assisted satellite review. All caused EF1-EF2 tree damage. These are in addition to 5 tornadoes already confirmed in ON via AI-assisted satellite review. All sectors in Ontario have now been reviewed. Details: uwo.ca/ntp/blog/202... #ONstorm

The NTP has confirmed nine new Quebec tornadoes for 2025 based on our end-of-season satellite review, assisted by an AI detection algorithm. The damage in each case was only to trees, with one tornado rated EF2 and eight rated EF1. Details: uwo.ca/ntp/blog/202... #meteoQC

The NTP has confirmed a tornado over water (waterspout) that was reported off the coast of Nova Scotia near Rocky Bay on October 25. Details at uwo.ca/ntp/blog/202.... #NSstorm

The NTP has confirmed a new tornado over water (waterspout) that occurred over Lake Huron northwest of Bayfield, ON yesterday. Details at the NTP blog here: uwo.ca/ntp/blog/202... #ONstorm

The NTP has confirmed five concurrent tornadoes over water (waterspouts) over Lake Erie off Long Point on Oct 21. Details at the NTP blog here: uwo.ca/ntp/blog/202... #ONstorm

The @nytimes.com highlighted work from #WesternU's Northern Tornadoes Project to reclassify a tornado that tore through rural North Dakota in June as an EF5, the highest category on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. @westernuntp.bsky.social

NTP partner 'The Weather Network' also has an article on the Enderlin, ND EF5 tornado that the NTP helped to rate. www.theweathernetwork.com/en/news/weat...

Good New York Times article on the upgrade to EF5 - mentioning that the Northern Tornadoes Project was called upon to assist. Gift article link so should be fully accessible. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/w...

The CSSL/NTP assisted the US National Weather Service (NWS) with their upgrading of the official rating of the June 2025 Enderlin, ND tornado from EF3 to EF5. Announced by the NWS today, it’s the first EF5-rated tornado in the US since 2013. Details here: uwo.ca/ntp/blog/202... Image B. Emfinger

Excited to announce that my method for estimating wind speeds based on lofted debris in tornadoes was used as contextual evidence for upgrading the Enderlin, ND tornado to an EF5! doi.org/10.1175/MWR-... #NDwx #Enderlin #EF5 #Tornado

The first forested area to be searched with NTP's new AI tool - Northern Ontario east of Lake Superior - turned up five tornadoes, including one rated EF2. These were all manually verified and documented. Details here: uwo.ca/ntp/blog/202... #ONstorm Lots more to come...

Today we have a special blog post on a new NTP tool for AI-assisted satellite review, with the method described by its developer - the NTP's Daniel Butt. The tool is being used experimentally and is already producing results. More on that shortly! uwo.ca/ntp/blog/202...

Following a thorough satellite review for storm tracks of interest, the NTP has confirmed three new EF1 tornadoes from earlier in the season in Quebec. The first two occurred on April 29 and the third on June 23. Details at: uwo.ca/ntp/blog/202... #meteoQC

The NTP has confirmed three new tornadoes and upgraded a downburst damage rating in Northern Ontario. Details here: uwo.ca/ntp/blog/202... #ONstorm

The NTP has confirmed four EF2 tornadoes in western Quebec during the late afternoon and evening hours of September 5. In each case there was considerable tree damage. Full details can be found here: uwo.ca/ntp/blog/202... #meteoQC

New paper alert! "Multi-Level In-Situ Measurements During a Direct Hit by a Significant Tornado" in A-O. Observations from a 2010 F2 tornado at a Harrow, ON-area wind farm show that peak winds do increase closer to the ground, supporting DOW radar measurements/analysis. doi.org/10.1080/0705...

With the 10 tornadoes added today from past months, the 2025 national tornado count goes to 66. Which is tied for 2017 at this point in the season for the *least* number of tornadoes since NTP began in 2017. And is almost half of what Canada experienced last year. Will be looking into the why...

An additional 4 tornadoes have been confirmed by NTP for Quebec from June based on satellite imagery review. There was 1 EF2 tornado and 3 EF1 tornadoes. Details at the NTP blog here: uwo.ca/ntp/blog/202.... Tornadoes are plotted on a regional map below. #meteoQC #QCstorm

The NTP has confirmed an additional 6 tornadoes for the Prairie provinces based on witness reports - 2 in AB, 3 in SK and 1 in MB. An EF0-Default rating is assigned for each since no damage was reported or detected. See the NTP blog for details: uwo.ca/ntp/blog/202... #ABstorm #SKstorm #MBstorm

The NTP has confirmed three tornadoes over Lake Erie from the evening of August 28. See here for details: uwo.ca/ntp/blog/202... #ONstorm

The NTP has confirmed three new tornadoes in southern AB from June, all rated EF0-Default. Details at uwo.ca/ntp/blog/202.... #ABstorm

The NTP has confirmed that a downburst (paired with large hail) caused high-end EF1 damage in the Brooks, AB area on August 20. Details at the NTP blog here: uwo.ca/ntp/blog/202... Note that ongoing analysis may result in additional events and/or a rating upgrade. #ABstorm #SKstorm

The NTP has confirmed two EF1 downbursts (one being a microburst), an EF0 tornado and a gustnado from the SK storms of Aug 20 near Saskatoon. The assessments are based on witness reports, an NTP damage survey, and radar/satellite imagery analysis. Details here: uwo.ca/ntp/blog/202... #SKstorm

The NTP has confirmed four additional tornadoes over water (waterspouts) that occurred in the Canadian waters of the Great Lakes in August. See the following for details: uwo.ca/ntp/blog/202... #ONstorm

The NTP has confirmed three EF2 tornadoes that occurred in NE Ontario near Englehart on July 12. Satellite imagery was used to identify the tracks of significant tree damage. Details at uwo.ca/ntp/blog/202... #ONstorm

UPDATE: Two NTP teams will investigate wind damage, one in SE AB and one in central SK. The NHP will also have a team investigating hail damage in the Cassils / Brooks, AB area. Please send significant damage reports to @ntp-reports.bsky.social and @nhp-reports.bsky.social. #ABstorm #SKstorm

There are numerous reports of significant wind damage in southeastern Alberta from intense storms earlier today. Hail damage has also been reported. An NTP survey team will leave tomorrow for the area to thoroughly assess the damage. Please send damage reports to @ntp-reports.bsky.social. #ABstorm

Following a damage survey in the Wheatley, ON area, NTP has confirmed that a microburst caused EF0 damage early on August 17. The max wind speed is estimated to be 130 km/h but the damage was very localized. Details can be found at the NTP blog here: uwo.ca/ntp/blog/202... #ONstorm

Today’s early morning storms in SW Ontario caused isolated wind damage in the Wheatley area. A large drive shed had its roof removed. An NTP survey team will leave for that area Monday morning to investigate. When results are available, you'll see a link to them here. #ONstorm

The NTP has confirmed Ontario's first recorded EF2 tornado of the year. It occurred in NW ON on July 27. High-resolution satellite images were used to identify and assess the damage path through the forest. Details here: uwo.ca/ntp/blog/202... #ONstorm

In addition to the tornado that the NTP confirmed in SW MB on Aug 5, we have now confirmed two tornadoes that occurred NE of Winnipeg on Aug 6. The Aug 6 tornadoes were assigned EF0 ratings after a damage survey was conducted. Details can be found here: uwo.ca/ntp/blog/202... #MBstorm

Follow the link below to a new article on the detection and prediction of 'extreme' thunderstorms by Drs. Sills and Kopp of the Canadian Severe Storm Laboratory. Published in The Conversation (Canada). Let us know what you think! theconversation.com/its-challeng...

There were several reports of possible tornadoes and photos/video of funnel clouds yesterday in the Winnipeg, MB area. The Winnipeg NTP survey team will investigate these potential tornadoes today. Please send damage reports to [email protected] or submit via uwo.ca/ntp. Thanks! #MBstorm

We have confirmed a tornado in SW MB near Grande-Clairière that occurred with a storm there yesterday. No damage was reported. We are also working on confirming tornado reports in SK (yesterday) and in AB (Aug 3). No damage reported with these. #MBstorm #SKstorm #ABstorm 1/2

The NTP has confirmed a tornado that occurred near Hardisty, AB on Aug 3. The tornado caused minor tree damage and was assigned an EF0 rating. For details, go to the NTP blog: uwo.ca/.../tornado_... #ABstorm Thanks to @instantweather.bsky.social for the numerous reports for this event!

Following an NTP ground/survey, the NTP has confirmed that two downbursts occurred near Mont-Laurier, QC on July 24. The downburst at Chute-Saint-Philippe was rated EF1 while the other at Ferme-Neuve was rated EF0. Details are provided at the NTP blog here: uwo.ca/ntp/blog/202... #meteoQC