Black Friday May 31, 1985: How a 'lost' 14th tornado was found - The Weather Network
In the deadly swarm of tornadoes that swept through Ontario 35 years ago, one was lost. Here's how it was found.
www.theweathernetwork.comHere’s the latest verifiable information I can share about the Southern Ontario tornado outbreak of 2005.
Direct answer
- The incident occurred on August 19, 2005, in southern Ontario, producing several strong tornadoes (two confirmed as F2, with gusts roughly 180–250 km/h) and causing major flooding and power outages in parts of the Greater Toronto Area and surrounding communities. No deaths were reported. [Source: Public Safety Canada Canadian Disaster Database and historical summaries][1][5]
Key details
- Tornado activity and path: The outbreak involved a line of severe thunderstorms that tracked eastward across southern Ontario from Kitchener to Oshawa, with two primary tornadic supercells producing documented tornadoes. This aligns with the event description in public safety and historical summaries.[5][1]
- Impacts: Widespread rainfall and flash flooding, especially in Toronto area, with record rainfall amounts in parts of the city (e.g., Toronto area rainfall records during the event) and tens of thousands of residents losing power. Fire services handled a large volume of emergency calls related to the storm.[1]
- Insurance and history context: Estimated insured losses exceeded CAD 500 million, making it one of Ontario’s most costly weather events at the time. The event’s significance is reflected in subsequent retrospective coverage and “this day in weather history” notes.[3][1]
If you’d like, I can summarize the event in a timeline or compare it to other Ontario tornado events (e.g., the 2009 Southern Ontario outbreak) to give a sense of scale and frequency. I can also pull brief excerpts or citations from specific sections of the sources for precise details.