The storm that hit Ottawa on May 21 brought strong winds that reached 190 kilometres per hour in some areas, a research group says.
The storm that left at least 8 people dead and thousands without power wasn’t caused by a tornado, but instead by what is known as a derecho—a devastating wind system that can travel long distances rapidly, according to Western University’s Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP).
“Analysis of the data reveals that a particularly intense downburst, not a tornado, was responsible for the damage” in southern Ottawa, NTP said on Twitter on May 25.
Maximum wind speeds reached 190 km/h, with the intensity of wind damage measured as EF2 on a scale from 0 to 5 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, the research group said….