That time Ontario had one of its weirdest weather days

Published on Nov. 9, 2020, 10:25 AM

Updated on Nov. 9, 2024, 1:43 PM

On Nov. 9, 2005, a tricky line of storms moved through the province, proving to be one of the wackiest weather days ever in Ontario.

This Day In Weather History is a daily podcast by Chris Mei from The Weather Network, featuring stories about people, communities and events and how weather impacted them.

In the first week of November 2005, a vicious "witches" storm pummelled the lower Great Lakes region, packing wind gusts exceeding 90 km/h.

On Nov. 9, a tricky line of storms moved through the province, proving to be one of the wackiest weather days ever in Ontario. This is where things turned on its head.

In the first week of November 2005, a vicious "witches" storm pummelled the lower Great Lakes region, packing wind gusts exceeding 90 km/h. (Pixabay).

Windsor’s temperatures climbed to a balmy 20°C, while Ottawa experienced a round of freezing rain. Off the shores of Georgian Bay, Barrie had snow and then Hamilton experienced a rare, and very late in the season, tornado. The twister was classified as an F1, packing winds up to 180 km/h. It had picked up and tossed dumpsters, caused walls to buckle, roofs to peel and cars to flip over.

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The strongest winds were primarily reported at higher elevations and in exposed areas that were to the lee of the Great Lakes shores. Hydro One reported as many as 70,000 customers were without power. It wasn't just a Canadian story, though, as south of the Great Lakes, the storm spawned a deadly tornado in Indiana that killed 22 people.

On today's podcast, Chris Mei talks about the wacky "witches" storm that had a wide variety of effects in Ontario and south of the border, as well as what led to the storms blasting the Great Lakes in November 2005.

"This Day In Weather History” is a daily podcast by The Weather Network that features unique and informative stories from host Chris Mei.