The research team found that the tornado near Perth had wind speeds of 150 km/h

Research by the Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP) has shown that the tornado that hit Perth, Ontario, last week was an EF1, with maximum sustained wind speeds of 150 kilometres per hour, according to executive director David Sills.

Scientists visited Perth over the weekend to classify a tornado that touched down nearby and assess the damage it caused, conducting a drone survey, listening to first-hand accounts and watching video footage recorded by the public.

Sills said the EF1 classification was the culmination of all that information. Tornadoes are classified by wind speed, from EF0 to EF5. An EF1 is the second-weakest type but can still cause significant damage.

NTP Executive Director David Sills said the narrow swath of damage helped prove it was a tornado, not just heavy rain. (Reported by Northern Tornadoes Project)

“An EF1 tornado is usually enough to damage a roof structure, knock down a group of trees or rip the roof off a barn and throw it into the air,” Sills said.

In this case, the ground crew found the greatest damage occurred on one property where three barns and a store were destroyed.

The entire tornado path was about 2,000 feet wide and nearly 25 miles long, Sills said, causing damage along the entire length of the path.

A growing trend

Sills said data like what his team collected near Perth was vital to tracking trends and understanding how factors like climate change were affecting weather.

In this case, the tornado near Perth fits into a broader regional trend that NTP has been observing since its inception.

“One thing we’ve noticed since we started the Northern Tornadoes Project in 2017 is that eastern Ontario and southern Quebec are seeing a lot more tornadoes than we anticipated,” Sills said.

“Maximum activity” was expected to occur in southern Saskatchewan.

Of the 61 tornadoes in Canada in 2024, 10 occurred in eastern Ontario and southern Quebec.

Sills said he doesn’t know if the trend of increased tornado activity will continue, but their team is trying to find out.

NTP mapped the tornado’s path from where it touched down southwest of Perth to just south of Smiths Falls. (Reporting by Northern Tornadoes Project)