1979 Woodstock, Ontario tornado
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On August 7th, 1979, several tornadoes touched down and devastated the area of Woodstock, Ontario, especially the southern end of which suffered the most intense destruction. Two people died, 142 were injured, and many homes were destroyed.
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[edit] Meteorological synopsis
A relatively cool and dry airmass was being pushed in from the north by means of a cold front, into warm and unstable air from the United States. Severe weather had already affected northeastern Ontario the evening before with this same cold front; during the late morning of the 7th the front had stalled across the Bruce Peninsula, where newer convection produced a couple of weak tornadoes near the towns of Wiarton and Grand Valley. (A large outflow boundary associated with these storms may have interacted with the lake breeze fronts, thus sparking these tornadic supercells).
[edit] Woodstock tornado
At around 6 pm local time, the front moving southward began to form thunderstorms near Lake Huron. They moved southward and intensified, and eventually developed into supercells just west of Stratford, where there were reports of a large tornado on the ground (later rated at F3). At 6:18 pm, the next tornado touched down southeast of Stratford. It quickly became stronger and as it passed by Hickson it was near F4 intensity and was about one kilometer wide. Farm homes and outbuildings along the path were leveled by the tornado, although it didn’t pass over any towns directly. It continued east-northeast and then lifted northeast of Bright.
At around 6:52 pm, another supercell thunderstorm northwest of Woodstock dropped a tornado near Embro. As it approached Woodstock it quickly widened to over 1 kilometer and was described as having a large, black, wedge shape, similar to the tornadoes of the Midwestern United States. It first hit the southern end of the Woodstock shortly after 7 pm. Many homes were reduced to foundations and rubble. Cars were lifted and moved. Trees that remained standing were partially de-barked and, in a few instances, straw and other small objects were found embedded into the trunks.
After the tornado left Woodstock, it passed over the town of Oxford Centre, a community of 250 people at the time, destroying it in two minutes. The towns of New Durham and Vanessa were similarly damaged. The tornado eventually lifted near the town of Waterford sometime after 8 pm. Shortly before passing over Lake Erie, the Woodstock supercell produced a second tornado near the shore. This was a weaker tornado (probably F1 or F2 intensity) that was not nearly as damaging as the other tornadoes. Thunderstorm activity had mostly ended by 9:30 pm as the cold front crossed into the United States.
[edit] Aftermath
Following the two tornadoes which hit the Woodstock area, over 1,000 people were left homeless, 350 homes were rendered uninhabitable, two people were dead (one person died when his truck was thrown off the highway; another was hit by flying debris), and 142 people were injured. The city of Woodstock was in a recession during the late 1970s and the tornado strained the already reduced municipal budget. Regional assistance came from many people and places over the following weeks and months. Ambulances from all over the region (Kitchener, Tillsonburg, London, St. Thomas, and Simcoe) converged on the areas hit hardest by the tornadoes. Local Mennonites also played a significant role in the rebuilding process.
People made homeless found short-term assistance with neighbours who whose homes were less damaged. The local government and those of surrounding counties sent millions of dollars in relief. Businesses also set up food and clothing drives for those who lost their homes. Local radio stations set up a 10-hour radio segment called “Operation Rebuild”, which raised almost half a million dollars,a relatively large amount of money for the time.
[edit] Comparison to other Ontario tornadoes
The Woodstock and Bright tornadoes were both rated on the Fujita scale as F4 tornadoes, the second-highest rating. Up until that time, an F4 tornado had not been recorded for southern Ontario since the June 1946 tornado in Windsor. Following the Woodstock tornado, there was another major tornado event in 1985, near the Barrie area. Since then, there hasn’t been an F4 or higher storm that has struck southern Ontario. Comparing the 1946, 1979, and 1985 tornadoes, the Woodstock event of 1979 was probably the most powerful and damaging for a single tornado.
Photographs display typical F4 damage over most of the homes that were struck by the tornado. It is possible, however, that the 1946 tornado was slightly more damaging, as some of the homes there hinted at possible F5 damage, although building materials and methods had developed since then. Environment Canada places this tornado as the 11th worst, just behind the Buctouche, New Brunswick tornado exactly 100 years prior.
