No tornadoes but at least two downbursts hit the Quinte region during Thursday’s violent storms.
Northern Tornadoes Project Executive Director David Sills, says Friday, a three-person team surveyed damage in Belleville and Hungry Bay, south of Shannonville on the ground and by drone.
“They went in and looked for evidence for a tornado, which, usually would mean a long, narrow path of damage. And in this case, the damage path was long but it wasn’t very narrow. And there was also not much sign of any rotation or anything like that in the damage. It was all, basically straight line from the west.”
They determined an EF0 downburst with an estimated maximum wind speed of 115 km/h, struck the City of Belleville at 3:40 causing weak damage in multiple locations over an area at least 6.6 km long and 1.1 km wide.
Sills says structural damage to downtown heritage buildings and a solar system removed from an apartment building are not officially associated with the downburst though winds affecting those areas were in line with an EF0 rating.
He adds it’s only because those types of construction aren’t included on the EF scale.
“Most of the damage indicators that we use in the Enhanced Fujita scale are new construction, trees, hydro poles, that sort of thing. One thing we don’t have yet in the EF scale is what we saw in downtown Belleville, these multi-story downtown heritage buildings that are often a different kind of construction.”
Around 3:50 p.m., another downburst with an EF0 rating and an estimated maximum wind speed of 115 km/h caused damage in an area almost 6 km long and 850m wide near Hungry Bay south of Shannonville.
Damage cause by a downburst, June 16, 2022 in the Shannonville area. (Photo: The Northern Tornadoes Project)
The Northern Tornadoes Project reports there was a third downburst in the Mallorytown area and that other storm summaries for the day are still in preparation.
