Nature's Fury

Ever since I was a kid I have been fascinated by extreme weather events such as thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes and so forth.

When I was just a young lad, I recall my parents driving my brother and I to our grandparents house in Colborne. It was a weekly occurrence which sometimes involved spending the night there.

On this particular trip in 1973, I can distinctly remember us driving through the town of Brighton as we always did on this trip. As we were just heading out of town, I remember dad having a tough time keeping the car on the road as the winds picked up considerably and we moved from one side of road to the other. Dad regained control of the car and we continued on our way not thinking much of it at the time.

Later that evening we were on our way back home and as we came into Brighton the destruction was immediately apparent. We were detoured around the downtown as a tornado had destroyed the city hall and done major damage to other structures. Trees had been toppled. We drove by my Uncle's house and the huge tree in his front yard had been uprooted and fell into the roof of the house next door.

When we found out the time the tornado had struck, we realized it had gone through the town just moments after we had passed through and the strong winds that were moving the car were caused by the funnel cloud. Had we turned around and looked out the back window of the car, we would have seen the tornado going through the town. It was a close call indeed. To the best of my memory, nobody was killed, however I can't say for sure since I was just about 5 years old at the time.

The power of nature is nothing to take lightly and must be respected. My brother and sister-in-law and her family all live in Florida so hurricanes and the possibility of the next one making landfall near them is always a concern during this time of year. They've been fortunate so far with a few near misses but I can't help but think it's only a matter of time.

When most people think of tornadoes, they think of "Tornado Alley" in the United States as the likely place where these "fingers of God" will strike. However, we Canadians know all too well that the threat exists here as well.
Just last week, two days of severe weather spawned several violent tornadoes near Winnipeg, Manitoba. Here is some footage of one of those giant twisters caught on tape by storm chasers.