A fierce thunderstorm watch issued Thursday morning for the city of Peterborough and the southern area of Peterborough was withdrawn by Environment Canada at 6:52 pm.
A similar watch for northern Peterborough County was withdrawn at 5:02 pm.
Updates: Rain Causes Heavy Flooding In St. Louis Area- LIVE UPDATES
An upcoming chilly front could bring recent blasts of up to 90 km/h and nickel-sized rain.
A fierce thunderstorm watch is in effect for Peterborough County, the town of Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland County, Haliburton County and Hastings County.
Thunderstorms are predicted to develop Thursday afternoon before a cold front moves through the area. The primary threat from the storms will be powerful wind gusts.
Enormous hail can vandalise property and cause injury. Powerful gusts of wind can damage buildings, uproot trees and throw large vehicles off the road. Lightning kills and impairs Canadians every year. Remember, when it rumbles, go in!
Emergency teams dealt with downed trees and energy lines throughout the area, including a tree that hit a home on Route 7A in Cavan Monaghan Township.
Peterborough county has already witnessed more than 100 millimetres of rain this month, double or triple regular levels.
As a result, the Trent-Severn Waterway has closed seven locks between Peterborough and Young’s Point to navigation until additional notice due to the high water level. However, the Peterborough Lift Lock and Lock 20 will stay in operation.
A tornado alarm was issued at 3:05 pm for Northumberland County with a fierce thunderstorm capable of delivering a tornado followed about six kilometres south of Roseneath, moving east at 50km/h. Still, the tornado alarm was withdrawn at 3.21 pm.
“A tornado will be likely coming this afternoon before the danger transitions to mostly wind,” according to the latest information on the weather agency. “This is a dangerous and potentially life-threatening situation.”
Thunderstorms are predicted to develop in the early afternoon and will likely intensify as the system moves east. The threat of fierce thunderstorms should relax in the late afternoon.
Meteorologists with the Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP) tweeted that they “hope enough elements for a ‘likely tornado threat’ to figure in eastern Ontario and southern Quebec.”
Ottawa, Brockville, Bancroft, Smith Falls, Stirling, Prescott and Renfrew are Ontario’s areas under Environment Canada’s tornado watch.
On Saturday, May 21, a tornado touched down in Uxbridge with winds of 120 miles per hour, the first wind event of the year to cause EF2 damage in Canada.
According to the Enhanced Fujita (EF-Scale), which estimates intensity levels, an EF1 tornado can attain wind speeds of 180 to 220 kilometres per hour. It can tear roofs off buildings, overturn vehicles, and uproot large trees.
Environment Canada issues an extreme thunderstorm watch when atmospheric circumstances are promising for the development of thunderstorms that could deliver one or more of the following: large hail, adverse winds and heavy rainfall.
The Office of the Fire Marshal and Emergency Management suggests that people take cover instantly if severe weather is approaching.