Screen shot of a YouTube video (by Rob Farrell) of possible tornado in IldertonScreen shot of a YouTube video (by Rob Farrell) of possible tornado in Ilderton
London

Microburst, Not A Tornado In Ilderton

Officials at Canada's weather agency say it was likely not a tornado that was captured on video north of London.

A storm that swept into the region on Saturday afternoon prompted Environment Canada to issue a tornado warning.

Videos captured by Nick Donaldson and Rob Farrell appear to show a brief touchdown of a twister.

"The weather centre did receive a couple of videos of activity in and around Ilderton just after 1pm in the afternoon. Both videos do seem to show circulation, both in the storm cloud itself, as well as re-circulation at or near the surface," said Geoff Coulson, meteorologist with Environment Canada in an interview Monday morning. "Not really well defined, not really a funnel shape as we would normally expect to see with a tornado. But there does appear to be some brief contact going on there with the surface."

However, by Monday afternoon, Environment Canada had determined it was likely not a tornado.

"On Saturday June 17, 2017, numerous thunderstorms developed over Southern Ontario. Around 1:10pm one of these thunderstorms passed over Ilderton, Ontario," it said in a statement. "Damage to a fence and several trees was reported from this thunderstorm. At this point it is likely that this damage was the result of a microburst with wind gusts up to 90 km/h."

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