March 15, 2012 — Thunderstorms that fired up in southern Ontario early Thursday had emergency crews on high alert.
Thunderstorm risk Thursday
Mild conditions are hanging on in Ontario.
Several areas saw temperatures reach the high teens on Wednesday,
including the city of Toronto, where the daytime high soared to 18.2
degrees.
"And that mild air is helping thunderstorms brew across the region," says Rob Davis, a meteorologist at The Weather Network.
Parts
of southern Ontario saw storms fire up during the early morning hours
Thursday. Radar detected a line of thunderstorms extending from Wiarton
to Goderich and another line from Algonquin to Bancroft. Callers to The
Weather Network Stormline reported frequent lightning and quarter sized
hail.
Waterloo
Regional Police say they received a call just before 8 am about a
person that was struck by lightning near the Toyota plant in Cambridge.
The victim was taken to hospital and is expected to recover. Lightning
strikes were also blamed for structural damage in the area.
"These
are the type of storms that will produce intense lightning, heavy rain
and decent hail," says Davis. "There's lots of convective activity in
the upper atmosphere
."
Rainfall forecast
Conditions will improve throughout the day before another line of storms re-intensify.
"The risk for thunderstorms will pick up once again through the aftenoon and evening," says Davis.
Environment
Canada says the main threats with these storms are torrential
downpours, hail up to toonie size and intense lightning.
Although it feels like spring has sprung, thunderstorms at this time of year are pretty rare.
"We
often see these kinds of storms in April and even May. Temperatures
aren't usually warm enough for thunderstorms to start firing up in the
winter months," notes Davis.
"It's
consistent with the warm conditions we've been seeing however, and the
position of the jet stream is allowing the Gulf air to spread across the
region."
The severe storm season south of the border has also got off to an early start. A tornado outbreak turned deadly earlier this month.
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