Summer in Ontario may bring with it warm weather, but last week’s Lucan tornado is a reminder that it’s also tornado season.

Since the start of the year, two tornadoes have touched down in Ontario, one in Lucan on June 30 and the second less than an hour away in Woodstock on May 16.

Dave Sills, director of the Northern Tornado Project at the University of Western Ontario, says Ontario is the leading province for tornadoes per year.

“It’s these summer months — June, July, August — that’s the peak for tornado activity right across Canada, but certainly in southern Ontario, this is the time where you really have to pay attention because tornadoes can happen with all of these storms that we get in this area,” Sills said.

The Northern Tornado Project has been operating since 2017, tracking and assessing tornadoes across Canada.

There were no injuries reported in the recent Lucan tornado, according to the NTP, which rated the twister as an EF0 tornado with wind speeds reaching as high as 110 kilometres per hour.

Lucan is a small village located about a 30-minute drive north of London and is part of the larger Lucan-Biddulph township.

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This is the second tornado of the year in Ontario, with the first occurring just down the road near Woodstock on May 16.

Both are located in what is considered a tornado hot spot, in the southern part of the province.

Tornadoes are rated using the Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale, which ranges from EF0 to EF5, with EF5 being the most intense.

In Canada, the aim is to give people at least a 10-minute warning before a tornado hits so they can seek shelter in time.

Every year, the NTP rates Canada’s warning preparedness with a report card. Its most recent report card for 2023 to 2024 gave an overall rating of 60.7 per cent.

While the goal for the organization is for Canada to be at 100 per cent, Sills said this is a noticeable increase from years past, with 2019 to 2021 scoring a failing grade of 37.5 per cent.

The most recent report card from the organization found that in 80 per cent of cases, it was able to issue tornado watches at least six hours before, and tornado warnings were issued 10 minutes before one struck 60 per cent of the time.

Tornado warnings are issued by Environment Canada through the Alert Ready system, which pushes notifications to all cellphones in the area and has the ability to take over radio and TV signals.

“There were still some people in the Lucan event that said they’d never got a warning on their phone. It still seems to be somewhat dependent on the network they’re on and the kind of phone they have and these kinds of things,” Sills said. “Obviously there’s still some kinks in the system that need to be ironed out, but this has come so far from 10 to 20 years ago.”

Sills says while radar is used to track when a tornado can occur, Environment Canada also needs people to report a tornado when they see it forming in order to alert the wider community.

Pointing to the Lucan tornado, Sills said it turned out a lot of people saw the storm, took pictures and video, but did not report to Environment Canada.

“Unless people contact Environment Canada about what they’re seeing, as they’re seeing it, they really have a hard time reacting quickly to a tornado kind of situation,” he said.

People can report a tornado by calling Environment Canada, emailing ONstorm@ec.gc.ca or using the #ONstorm on X.

Regardless, Sills warns people who see a tornado or receive an alert to act fast.

“If a tornado warning is issued, that means that a tornado was either occurring or Doppler radar is showing that it’s imminent, so that means you should get to shelter as soon as possible,” Sills said.

To stay safe from a tornado, it’s recommended people stay away from windows and doors to avoid debris flying through the air and when possible, seek shelter in a basement.

“A lot of times we get people sending us videos of them using their cellphone camera to record a tornado coming straight at them with debris in the air, so this is not recommended,” Sills warns.

“Take it seriously.”

— with files from Global News’ Kevin Nielsen

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