With Ontario having recorded its earliest tornado ever this year, Sarnia-Lambton CANWARN volunteers gathered Wednesday night for their annual training.
A capacity crowd was on hand at the Sarnia Yacht Club.
Environment Canada meteorologist Geoff Coulson says an EF1 tornado in the Clifford area March 16 broke the previous record for the earliest tornado that had stood since March 19, 1948.
He says last year was less active than usual.
"We had eight tornadoes in the province, the long term average is 12," says Coulson. "Four of those tornadoes happened on a very active day, August 2 of last year, two of those were fairly significant events in the Wellington County area that were rated as Enhanced Fujita Scale 2 tornadoes that would have had peak wind speeds in excess of 200 km/h."
CANWARN is a network of volunteers across the province that provides critical eyewitness weather information that technology can't.
It began in Windsor in 1987 in the amateur radio community.
Coulson says watches and warnings are issued for a small percentage of storms but the public is reminded that lightning is a threat in all thunderstorms.
We're advised to go indoors when thunder roars.
