Two years have passed since damaging EF-2 tornado struck Barrie, Ont.
Saturday, July 15 marks the two-year anniversary of a damaging EF-2 tornado that hit Barrie, Ont., resulting in several injuries. It was part of a severe weather event in southern Ontario that led to an estimated $100 million in insured costs.
July 15 marks the day Barrie, Ont., was hit by a damaging tornado in 2021 -- a memorable event that also spun up recollections from the deadly Black Friday twister in 1985.
Fortunately, there were no deaths with the July 15, 2021 tornado, but there were several injuries reported and an estimated $100 million in insured damages during the southern Ontario outbreak that produced as many as nine twisters.
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(Marta Czurylowicz/The Weather Network)
Below is a detailed breakdown of the July 15, 2021 tornado.
Breakdown of the twister
On Thursday, July 15, 2021, multiple severe thunderstorms exploded and swept through the southern half of the province. This prompted multiple tornado warnings including for the Barrie area. At around 2:30 p.m. EDT, a tornado spawned from the storm trekked through the southern neighbourhoods of Barrie.
"Just after 2:30 p.m. Thursday, a tornado tracked from the miniature golf course on Huronia Road and Mapleview Drive (in south Barrie) and continued eastward towards Prince William Way where it caused significant damage on the north side of Mapleview Drive," Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) said in its original summary.
The twister damaged about 150 homes, many deemed unsafe to enter, according to City of Barrie officials. The twister also resulted in as many as 11 injuries, a tally that increased after paramedics had initially put the figure at eight.
After surveying the damage, ECCC and the Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP) gave the Barrie tornado an EF-2 rating on the Enhanced Fujita scale. It had maximum wind speeds of 210 km/h, with a damage path that was 12.5 kilometres long and up to 510 metres wide, according to NTP.
The agency also noted trees were uprooted or toppled, and at least 10 roofs were removed. The second floor was destroyed or removed from two houses and a couple of vehicles were overturned. Roof shingles were damaged or removed from a number of other homes along the damage track from the tornado. The damage track may have continued towards Friday Harbour and over Lake Simcoe.
(Mark Robinson/The Weather Network)
The storms of July 15 were very severe. The tornado that struck Barrie was one of nine twisters, with seven of them rated EF-2 on the Enhanced Fujita scale.
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With files from Daniel Martins, a product specialist at The Weather Network.
This article was originally published in 2022 and has been updated.
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