FORT FRANCES — Environment Canada says it is still looking for reports from the public about Sunday’s active weather that led to tornado watches and warnings west of Thunder Bay.
However, the weather office said, as of Monday morning, it didn’t have reports of any tornadoes occurring.
The meteorological service issued tornado watches for the Fort Frances, Emo and Rainy River areas on Sunday due to the weekend storms. Steven Flisfeder, a meteorologist, said tornado warnings (a higher threat level than tornado watches) were also in place for about two hours Sunday evening for the Fort Frances area.
Despite that, he said, there hadn’t been any reports of any tornadoes actually touching down.
“The only thing that we've seen so far is heavy rainfall amounts across Northwestern Ontario as there was fairly consistent thunderstorm activity across yesterday and last night as well,” he said.
Flisfeder said the tornado warnings were in place for over two hours Sunday evening.
“The tornado warning was issued when there were indications of rotation in the storm on the U.S. side of the border, and as the storm progressed through our warning area, it was maintained until the rotation had dissipated,” he said.
“But at this time, we don't have any indication or confirmation one way or the other about whether or not there was a tornado or a downburst or anything of that nature.”
Areas around Fort Frances saw 52.1 millimetres of rain during the storm, he said, while Dryden saw 44 millimetres.
The weather office is still looking for information from the public, Flisfeder said, adding that reports can be submitted either through email or X (formerly Twitter).
Looking forward, he said the region can largely expect the rain to subside, aside from the possibility of a few localized showers.
“There may be a small chance of shower activity, in particular in the Dryden area for late (Tuesday) evening into the early overnight, but nothing too significant at this time,” he said.
“Generally speaking, there's a high pressure system building over the area, so that should suppress most precipitation for the weather over the next couple of days.”
