20110825_ca_london

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MARK HOMINICK BACK IN THE GYM PAYING TRIBUTE TO TRAINER {page 4}

PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS SMITH, PINKETT DENY RUMOURS OF SEPARATION

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LONDON

Thursday, August 25, 2011 www.metronews.ca News worth sharing.

ANGELA MULLINS/METRO

Weather keeps area on its toes

Londoners told to be on tornado lookout Violent weather to persist through early fall

Greg Thomas of Toronto pushes through the wind yesterday at Dundas and Wellington streets. Environment Canada reported wind speeds of about 30 km/h at the London airport, with gusts reaching about 50 km/h yesterday afternoon.

Mother Nature has been on a whirl this week in southwest Ontario. But the violent weather system that whipped up an F-3 tornado Sunday in Goderich and left London on the watch for funnel clouds yesterday isn’t out of the ordinary. In fact, the region is behind schedule for its share of wicked weather. “We are in the time of year when these storms happen,” Environment Canada meteorologist Geoff Coulson said. “We got off to a bit of a slow start this year.” Southern Ontario’s tornado season starts in late April and continues through early October. The season plays out differently each year depending on how — and when — the ingredients that form a perfect storm come together, Coulson said. Simply put, everything has fallen into place this week. Heat and humidity in the lower atmosphere are providing fuel, with the spark

Twister count Number of confirmed tornadoes in Ontario this year is five. Environment Canada says average number of tornadoes each year in Ontario is 11.

— which any good storm needs to truly get rolling — coming from a cold front that’s sweeping through, driving warmer, lighter air upward, Coulson said. When all of that gets mixed together, it causes one heck of a collision that can lead to heavy rain, strong wind and swirling clouds. If one of those clouds touches the ground, the storm officially becomes a tornado. Around 8 p.m. last night, one possible tornado was reported near Shelbourne, another in the Lucan area and a third on the Lake Huron shoreline between St. Joseph and Bayfield. ANGELA MULLINS


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