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Two tornadoes and a downburst hit Windsor-Essex

AM800-news-tornadoes-2026 (Northern Tornadoes Project)

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Two tornadoes and a downburst.

The official result of severe weather that blew through Windsor-Essex on Thursday causing significant damage but fortunately only minor injuries.

The Northern Tornadoes Project at Western University in London has wrapped up its investigation and has determined an EF1 tornado hit east Windsor at 4:18 p.m. then tracked to northern Wheatley at 4:48 p.m. where it damaged a large barn.

The twister had a max wind of 145 km/h and was 450 meters wide with a length of over 6 kilometres.

The EF1 downburst, described as a wall of wind and rain, hit south Wheatley at 4:45 p.m. with winds of 150 km/h, toppled two tractor trailers and damaged trees.

It covered an area 5.3 km long and up to 4.7 km wide.

More than 100 Hydro One customers remain without power with restoration expected by 2 p.m.

As AM800 has previously reported, a fast moving tornado started in Detroit and crossed the Detroit River at Belle Isle before hitting east Windsor.