Speaking from his home in Lakefield, Ont., Ed Palezny is still visibly shaken by the horrific moments he shared with his wife last weekend as they watched a storm tear apart the wooden villa they housed inside.
“Unless you’re in a house with a torn roof and the sound of a train coming through your door, you’ll never know how it feels,” Palezny said.
The couple had been caught in a devastating storm – a rare, fast-paced event known as derecho – that swept through Ontario and Quebec on Saturday. Before the hit, many families enjoyed a sunny long weekend.
Earlier in the day, an intrusive emergency warning was triggered in the Toronto area after a 132 km / h wind signal at Kitchener Airport, Ont., Sent messages to television and radio stations, as well as mobile phones.
But many people in the Peterborough area had no idea what lay ahead unless they happened to pay attention to the weather forecast. The same warning was not sent to this region.
Thumbelina’s wife and daughter had just returned to their villa after a boat trip on Lake Stoney. Nearby, a neighbor’s teenage boys were kayaking while another group had just boarded a pontoon boat.
Only moments later did they see the first signs of an impending storm.
“The sky darkened, then it turned green. And then there was a loud roar, and then a white wall of rain was actually coming towards us,” Palecni said.
“I can’t believe that with today’s technology, [there was] absolutely no signal on my phone, my wife’s phone, [or] our daughter’s phone. “
After the storm, Palecni discovers that the winds have wedged this boat into a tree. (Submitted by Ed Paleczny)
‘This is it. we’re done
Some people failed to arrive safely on time. The storm claimed the lives of 11 people.
One of them, a 64-year-old woman, was hit by a falling tree while camping in the Peterborough area. Another victim, a 61-year-old Lakefield man, died after a tree fell on him.
The storm left devastation in southern Ontario and Quebec, destroying trees, damaging buildings and leaving about 900,000 homes and businesses without electricity at its peak.
Palecni said his family only has a few minutes to take shelter in their villa.
Thumbs up said strong winds broke up to 50 mature pine trees in the woods around his Lake Stoney villa near Lakefield, Ont. (Submitted by Ed Paleczny)
“As I tried to keep the door closed, we saw that the wooden frame was falling apart. The actual wooden frame was swaying in the wind and the metal roof was torn off, “he said. My wife thought, “This is it. We’re done.”
Despite significant damage to their property, Palecni and his family survived. He is now looking for answers as to why he and his neighbors were not notified in advance.
“A little warning would be a long way,” he said.
Why the strong storm signal was not triggered
Saturday’s deadly storm was the first time Canada has issued an intrusive broadcast warning of an extremely severe thunderstorm. Until last year, only tornado warnings triggered emergency broadcasts to mobile phones and television and radio programs.
But in June 2021, Environment Canada expanded its weather warning program to include a very specific subset of extreme thunderstorm warnings. According to the changes, a warning is triggered only for strong thunderstorms that are forecast to reach wind speeds of at least 130 km / h or those that are forecast to cause hail of at least seven centimeters. .
Peter Kimball, a warning alert meteorologist at Environment Canada, explained that as the ravine progressed in southern Ontario, forecasters weren’t so sure the winds would reach 130 km / h as the storm hit the Peterborough area.
This meant that the signal was not triggered for the Peterborough area because it did not meet the threshold. Although it was issued for the neighboring Lindsay-North Lake Kavarta region, he said.
Lessons learned: Is the threshold too high?
Kimball said it was worth discussing whether 130 km / h was the right threshold in the future, especially given that much of the damage was caused by peak winds ranging from 120 to 130 km / h.
“There is a balance between warning people of extreme events and over-warning,” he said.
Kimball explained that while thunderstorm warnings are always available through various media channels, as well as through Weather Canada’s WeatherCan website and apit would not be practical to trigger intrusive signals for any thunderstorm.
“I think people are going to start annoying us pretty quickly, so we’re really limiting it to those that are going to be particularly remarkable,” he said.
George Kurunis, a Toronto-based storm chaser who is a researcher at the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, said it was difficult to strike the right balance.
“If you give too many signals, people become complacent,” he said.
Toronto-based storm chaser George Kurunis, seen here reviewing the Oklahoma tornado forecast, said last weekend’s ravine would be a case for meteorologists as they assess the effectiveness of the new extreme thunderstorm warning. (Peter Rowe)
He believes the warning of extreme storms is the right idea, although he suggests that the wind speed threshold may be lowered.
“They could probably reduce that a bit: 120 km / h will still do a lot of damage, especially if it’s a wide stretch, like these dereho events,” Kurunis said.
“I think this particular storm will be a really good test post for meteorologists issuing these kinds of warnings to look back and see how effective it has been.”
Although Palezny is grateful to have weathered Saturday’s storm, he said he hopes Canada’s warning system will be improved before it hits another.
“We definitely need a better warning system to respond раз that separates the ordinary thunderstorm from a powerful, damaging storm that creates a path of destruction,” he said.
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