Are there publications about Canadian tornadoes?

The researchers working in and with the Northern Tornadoes Project have published a large and growing number of peer-reviewed and conference articles. You can find those below.

There have also been a number of publications that have been written following significant tornado events. Some are out of print and hard to find:

• Not Like Any Other Sunday by Elizabeth Bundy-Cooper and Cathy Cove (focusing on the 21 Aug 2011 F3 Goderich, ON tornado)

• Under the Whirlwind by Arjen Verkaik and Jerrine Verkaik (a general book on tornadoes with focus on the F3 tornadoes of 20 Apr 1996 in southern Ontario)

• Black Friday by the Edmonton Sun (focusing on the F4 tornado of 31 Jul 1987 that hit Edmonton, AB)

• Tornado Town by Laura Lennox and Brock McKinney (focusing on the F4 tornado of 31 May 1985 that hit Grand Valley, ON)

• Ontario Tornado by the Barrie Banner (focusing on the tornado outbreak of 31 May 1985 that produced the F4 Grand Valley, ON tornado and the F4 Barrie, ON tornado)

• Tornado by John Toll (focusing on the F4 Woodstock, ON tornado of 7 Aug 1979)

• The Tornadoes of Western Canada by A. B. Lowe and G. A. McKay (focused on tornado events in western Canada up to 1960)

Scientific articles related to Canadian severe storms can also be found on the website of our University of Manitoba NTP and CSSL partner Prof. John Hanesiak here.

NTP-Related Publications

Slabon, S. G., C. D. Neish and C. S. Miller, 2025: Synthetic Aperture Radar as a Tool for Tornado Classification in Forested Areas. Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, 51, https://doi.org/10.1080/07038992.2025.2579315.

Miller, C. S., F. Jessa and G. A. Kopp, 2025: Evaluating the utility of NDVI as a damage indicator for crops in the Enhanced Fujita scale. J. Appl. Meteorol. Climatol., https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-24-0233.1.

Sills, D., and G. Kopp, 2025: It’s challenging to predict extreme thunderstorms — improving this will help reduce their deadly and costly impacts. The Conversation, Academic Journalism Society, https://doi.org/10.64628/AAM.vhrrcxrv6.

Sills, D., L. Elliott, D. Michelson and N. Donaldson, 2025: 'Missed' EF2 tornadoes in Canada and the role of radar. Extended Abstracts, 41st AMS Conference on Radar Meteorology, Toronto, ON, Amer. Meteorol. Soc., Paper 6B.4, 10 pp.

Sills, D. M. L., and C. S. Miller, 2025: Multi-level in-situ measurements during a direct hit by a significant tornado. Atmos.-Ocean, DOI 10.1080/07055900.2025.2554837.

Butt, D. G., T. A. Newson, C. S. Miller, D. M. L. Sills and G. A. Kopp, 2025: Analysis of forest-based tornadoes using treefall patterns. Mon. Wea. Rev., DOI https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-24-0249.1.

Northern Tornadoes Project, 2024: Northern Tornadoes Project - Annual Report 2023. Western University Engineering, 38 pp, http://doi.org/10.5206/ntpr2312.

Miller, C. S., G. A. Kopp, D. M. L. Sills and D. G. Butt, 2024: Estimating wind speeds in tornadoes using debris trajectories of large compact objects. Mon. Wea. Rev., 152, 1859–1881, DOI 10.1175/MWR-D-23-0251.1.

Hanesiak, J.M., M. Taszarek, D. Walker, C-C. Wang and D. Betancourt, 2024: Strong Tornado Environments In Canada Using ERA5-Derived Convective Parameters, JGR-Atmospheres, 129, 1-20, http://doi.org/10.1029/2023JD040614.

Butt, D. G., A. L. Jaffe, C. S. Miller, G. A. Kopp and D. M. L. Sills, 2024: Automated large-scale tornado treefall detection and directional analysis using machine learning. Artificial Intelligence for the Earth Systems, https://doi.org/10.1175/AIES-D-23-0062.1.

Kunkel, J., J. Hanesiak and D. Sills 2023: The Hunt for Missing Tornadoes: Using Satellite Imagery to Detect and Document Historical Tornado Damage in Canadian Forests. J. Applied Meteor. Climatol., 62, 139-154, https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-22-0070.1.

Sills, D. M. L and L. Elliott, 2023: Assessment of Tornado Alerting Performance for Canada. Atmos.-Ocean, https://doi.org/10.1080/07055900.2023.2257163.

Stevenson, S. A., C. S. Miller, D. M. L. Sills, G. A. Kopp, D. M. Rhee, and F. T. Lombardo, 2023: Assessment of wind speeds along the damage path of the Alonsa, Manitoba EF4 tornado on 3 August 2018. J. Wind Engineering & Industrial Aerodynamics, 238, 105422, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jweia.2023.105422.

Ngui, Y. D., M. R. Najafi, C. P. E. de Souza, and D. M. L. Sills, 2023: Probabilistic assessment of concurrent tornado and storm-related flash flood (TORFF) events. Int. J. Climatol., 43, 4231-4247, https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.8084.

Ibrahim, I., G. A. Kopp, and D. M. L. Sills, 2023: Retrieval of peak thunderstorm wind velocities using WSR-88D weather radars. J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol., 40, 237–251, https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-22-0028.1.

Northern Tornadoes Project, 2023: Northern Tornadoes Project - Annual Report 2022 Report. Western University Engineering, 77 pp, https://doi.org/10.5206/ntpr1894.

Kopp, G., D. Sills and J. Brimelow, 2022: Canada is witnessing more thunderstorm impacts than ever before. The Conversation, Academic Journalism Society, https://doi.org/10.64628/AAM.756uj4pn6.

Northern Tornadoes Project, 2022: Northern Tornadoes Project - Annual Report 2021 Report. Western University Engineering, 66 pp, https://doi.org/10.5206/ntpar1003.

Sills, D. M. L., C. S. Durfy, and C. P. E. de Souza, 2022: Are Significant Tornadoes Occurring Later in the Year in Southern Ontario? Geophysical Research Letters, 49, e2021GL096483, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL096483.

Mansour, M. A., D. M. Rhee, T. Newson, C. Peterson and F. T. Lombardo, 2021: Estimating wind damage in forested areas due to tornadoes. Forest, 12, https://doi.org/10.3390/f12010017.

Stevenson, S. A. and G. A. Kopp, 2021: Discussion of “Reconnaissance of Buildings Impacted by the 2018 Tornadoes in Ottawa, Canada” by A. Gill and A. S. Genikomsou. J. Perform. Constr. Facil., 35, https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CF.1943-5509.0001598.

Northern Tornadoes Project, 2021: Northern Tornadoes Project 2020 Report. Western University Engineering, 66 pp, https://doi.org/10.5206/ntpr201.

Sills, D. M. L., G. A. Kopp, L. Elliott, A. Jaffe, E. Sutherland, C. Miller, J. Kunkel, E. Hong, S. Stevenson and W. Wang, 2020: The Northern Tornadoes Project - uncovering Canada’s true tornado climatology. Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc., 101, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-20-0012.1.

Stevenson, S. A., G. A. Kopp and A. M. El Ansary, 2020: Prescriptive design standards for resilience of Canadian housing in high winds. Frontiers in Built Environment, 6, https://doi.org/10.3389/fbuil.2020.00099.

Sills, D. M. L., G. A. Kopp, L. Elliott, A. Jaffe, E. Sutherland, C. Miller, J. Kunkel, E. Hong, S. Stevenson, and W. Wang, 2020: The Northern Tornadoes Project - uncovering Canada’s true tornado climatology. Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc., https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-20-0012.1.

Sills, D. M. L., and P. I. Joe, 2019: From Pioneers to Practitioners: A short history of severe thunderstorm research and forecasting in Canada. Atmos.-Ocean, 57, 249-261, https://doi.org/10.1080/07055900.2019.1673145.

Northern Tornadoes Project, 2020: Northern Tornadoes Project 2018/19 Report Western University Engineering, 39 pp, https://doi.org/10.5206/ntpr191.

Sills, D., G. A. Kopp, E. Hong, J. Kennell, A. Jaffe, and L. Elliott, 2018: The Northern Tornadoes Project – overview and initial results. Extended Abstracts, 29th AMS Conference on Severe Local Storms, Stowe, VT, Amer. Meteorol. Soc., Paper 60, 1-6.

Kopp, G. A., E. Hong, J. Kennell and D. Sills, 2018. Northern Tornadoes Flyover Project. Summary technical report of the Year 1 pilot study. Western University Engineering, 29 pp, https://doi.org/10.5206/ntpr181.

Sills, D., G. A. Kopp, E. Hong, J. Kennell, A. Jaffe and L. Elliott, 2018: The Northern Tornadoes Project – overview and initial results. Extended Abstracts, 29th AMS Conference on Severe Local Storms, Stowe, VT, Amer. Meteorol. Soc., Paper 60, 1-6.

Kopp, G. A., E. Hong, J. Kennell and D. Sills, 2018: Northern Tornadoes Flyover Project. Summary technical report of the Year 1 pilot study. Western University Engineering, 29 pp, https://doi.org/10.5206/ntpr181.