Pair of rare November tornadoes touch down in New Brunswick last week
An Ontario-based research team has confirmed a pair of tornadoes touched down in central New Brunswick less than an hour away from one another last week.
A pair of small tornadoes made landfall in both Harvey, N.B., and Sheffield, N.B., around 5 p.m. on Friday.
Before Nov. 1, the latest tornado of a calendar year ever recorded in New Brunswick was September in the 1960s.
“The reports we have so far is that the damage was fairly minor,” says Dave Sills, executive director with the Northern Tornadoes Project out of Western University, which tracks and records all tornadoes nationwide.
Sills says the tornadoes are currently rated as EF-0, which is the lowest peg on the severity scale when it comes to measuring twisters.
The Sheffield tornado was confirmed through a video taken by resident Donny Young. Young first started taking the video only to get a shot of the big storm blowing through.
It wasn’t until after he posted the video to Facebook he realized he had caught the tornado beginning to form.
“Until the video started reaching some traction online, I had no idea it was as significant as what it was,” says Young. “A few people down river here had some objects blow from their door here and there kind of thing, but no significant damage that anybody has heard of yet.”
Young says he has never seen a storm like that since moving to the Sheffield area a few years ago.
Sills says a team with the Northern Tornadoes Project has arrived in the area and will be conducting site surveys in both Harvey and Sheffield to learn more about the tornadoes. He expects results from their findings to be available on the organization’s website by the end of day Wednesday.
He also makes note of the length of this year’s tornado season in Canada. The first tornado was recorded in southern Ontario in mid-March, with this most recent pair of twisters in New Brunswick making the season almost eight months in length.
He says tornadoes later, or earlier, in the season could become more common as a result of climate change.
“As we warm, the season will get longer and there'll be more opportunities for tornadoes during outbreaks of heat that come even in the shoulder seasons,” says Sills. “As we collect more data, we might be able to pick up some trends to show connections, long-term trends, connections to climate change and these type of things.”
For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Felonies, assassination attempts and a last-minute change on the ticket leads voters to Tuesday's U.S. election
A campaign that has careened through a felony trial, incumbent being pushed off the ticket and assassination attempts comes down to Election Day on Tuesday.
Elections BC says box of 861 votes uncounted, others votes unreported
Elections BC says it has discovered that a ballot box containing 861 votes wasn't counted in the recent provincial election, as well as other mistakes including 14 votes going unreported in a crucial riding narrowly won by the NDP.
Peel police officer suspended after video appeared to show him at protest while off duty
Peel police say four people were arrested and an officer was injured following several protests in Mississauga and Brampton Sunday afternoon, including one at a Hindu temple that turned violent.
Musk PAC tells Philadelphia judge the US$1M sweepstakes winners are not chosen by chance
A lawyer for Elon Musk 's political action committee told a judge in Philadelphia on Monday that so-called 'winners' of his US$1 million-a-day voter sweepstakes in swing states are not chosen by chance but are instead chosen to be paid 'spokespeople' for the group.
Surprise swing state? Iowa poll has Harris suddenly leading
Based on victories in the past two elections and polls leading up to Tuesday’s election, Donald Trump had seemed almost certain to win Iowa, but a new poll has Kamala Harris with a sudden three-point lead.
Russia suspected of sending incendiary devices on US- and Canada-bound planes, Wall Street Journal reports
Incendiary devices that ignited in Germany and the United Kingdom in July were part of a covert Russian operation that aimed to start fires aboard cargo and passenger flights heading to the U.S. and Canada, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Monday, citing Western security officials.
3 arrested as protesters clash outside Hindu temple in Surrey, B.C.
Three people were arrested after duelling protests erupted into violence outside a Hindu temple in Surrey, B.C., over the weekend, according to the RCMP.
Daylight savings can negatively affect worker productivity, research says
New research from the University of Oregon finds the annual practice of ‘springing forward’ into daylight time affects productivity more than previously thought.
Pair of rare November tornadoes touch down in New Brunswick last week
A research team has confirmed a pair of tornadoes touched down in central New Brunswick last week.