An investigation by Environment Canada has confirmed that a tornado touched down southwest of London on Thursday.
Environment Canada Severe Weather Meteorologist Ria Alsen says a damage survey team from Western University was sent to follow up on reports of a possible tornado in Delaware. They were able to confirm that a weak Fujita Scale zero land spout tornado did touch down in the area around 12:30pm.
"It covered maybe 50 m by 10 m, so it was a relatively a small area," says Alsen. "It wasn't a very long lived developed system, and with the damage path we had, it couldn't have lasted very long."
Alsen says the tornado caused damage to four properties; siding was blown off two homes, a glass railing was broken and blown around another home, and a swirling pattern was made in a local corn field.
"This is the weakest possible tornado you can have with just 90 km/h winds, and very minor damage," she says.
Alsen says this is the fourth confirmed tornado in Ontario this year, with the province seeing an average of 12 confirmed tornadoes a year.
