Another Tornado Fairly Close To, But Not IN Vermont

Power lines arc in this screen
grab of last evening's tornado
in Brossard, Quebec.

On July 18, I told you how this summer, tornadoes have had a habit of spinning in unusual numbers in the Northeast, close to Vermont, but not IN the Green Mountain State.  

We just had another example Wednesday. 

This time, a tornado touched down in Brossard, Quebec, which is immediately across the St. Lawrence River from Montreal.  Brossard is roughly 50 miles from the border crossing in Highgate, Vermont. 

The tornado last evening in Brossard damaged the roofs of at least two commercial buildings, overturned a tractor trailer truck. The driver suffered minor injuries. The twister also uprooted trees. Video of the tornado showed debris flying in the air and power flashes as the storm snapped electrical lines. 

Other possible tornadoes on Wednesday touched down about 35 miles southwest of Quebec City and roughly 40 miles northwest of Montreal, says Environment Canada. 

In our general area, a few severe thunderstorms popped up in northwestern New York during the day Wednesday and caused a bit of tree and power line damage.

 A severe thunderstorm warning was briefly issued for parts of far northwestern Vermont last evening as a strong storm developed near Chazy, New York. But that storm quickly weakened as it crossed Lake Champlain into Grand Isle and Franklin counties in Vermont. 

One to two dozen  tornadoes occur virtually every year across the southern half of Quebec.  Most are pretty minor. 

Much like in the United States, Canada's "tornado alley" of sorts has been shifting east. Both the northeastern United States, and Ontario and Quebec have in recent year seen an uptick in twisters.

Last year was an exception, with only ten Quebec tornadoes, but there seems to be a fair number so far this year. Examples include a fairly destructive one west of Montreal on May 27, and three others in the province on June 13. 

Meanwhile, a remarkable 21 tornadoes have been confirmed in New York State this July, bringing the total for the year to 23. The most tornadoes in a single year across New York is 25 in 1992. The latest confirmed tornado was a brief EF-0 Wednesday in Broadalbin, New York. 

For those of us who don't like tornadoes, thunderstorms, much less tornadoes are unlikely in most of New England and Quebec through Monday.  Certainly no tornadoes are in the forecast for that period.