_______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ The ShieldsWeather Natural Disaster E-zine _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ Publisher: Jerry Shields Date: June 8, 2008 Issue: Volume 1, Number 3 Home Pages: http://www.ShieldsWeather.com Circulation: Over 20 now! _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ What's in This Issue 1) Welcome to the ShieldsWeather Natural Disaster E-zine! 2) Possible F1 Tornado in the Sault region. 3) Weather Review and Outlook. 4) Forest Fire Update. 5) Disaster Preparation. 6) What's New At Shieldsweather.com 7) A Look Ahead to next week's E-Zine. 8) Steal This E-zine! 9) Reprint Rights _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ 1) Welcome to the ShieldsWeather Natural Disaster E-zine! Those of you who have joined in the past week, welcome to my E-zine (electronic magazine!) Canadians are not only obsessed with their weather, but with natural phenomena everywhere. I hope to provide a brief look at the highlights of events from Ontario, Canada and sometimes around the world. You should be on this list only if you signed up for it on my web site. If you no longer wish to hear from me, don't be shy -- there's a link at the bottom of this e-mail that will put you out of your misery. If you missed a back issue, remember that all previous issues are archived on my web site at: http://www.ShieldsWeather.com/ezine What's in this issue: Big news in Northern Ontario as the Sault region, near Echo Bay may have seen the 3rd tornado, for Ontario, this spring season! Next we'll look at this past busy weather week and take a peak at the week ahead. Forest fire season continues to be slow but I'll take a quick look at current conditions. Lastly I will go over some disaster preparedness issues and what you can do to be ready for the day a disaster strikes close to home. Are you reading my blog? The blog has been extremely busy with coverage of my lastest tornado chase near the alleged Echo Bay tornado. Check it out here: http://www.Shieldsweather.com/blog _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ 2) Friday night, between 6-7pm, a severe storm moved NNE out of Upper Michigan and into the St. Mary's River Basin. I was chasing storms that night and headed out to the St. Joseph Island bridge to watch the storm work its way towards Laird Hill. The sky was black with frequent lightning. I headed towards Echo Bay on #17 and found severe rain and poor visibility. Fog-like conditions made chasing impossible and so I turned back, towards the east, and chased towards Thessalon and up #129. I returned to Laird Hill on Saturday morning to check out reported damage at the North Shore Tractor dealership. I spoke to owner Vic Fremlin who toured me around to damage on his property. A roof on a tractor shed was lifted and thrown to the ground. Metal surfaces were pelted with hundreds of dents from 3" hail. Trees were flattened and a steel dumpster, full of steel weighing tons, was moved about 10 feet. There were also mud splatters on the sides of buildings on the opposite side of prevailing winds. This is often an indicator of tornadic activity. I traveled to Bar River, NNE, further along the storm path. The damage there was even more revealing. Residents told me about an event that was so isolated that it left one side of the yard untouched while it ripped siding and shingles off of buildings on the other side of the yard. Trees were down all over Bar River. Some homeowners reported 2" hail and wind so severe that they took cover in basements and in bathtubs. Environment Canada has been reviewing my photos and reports. They have notified that they will be calling me early this week to get more information, in hopes of categorizing this event as a F1 tornado. That would make this Ontario's third tornado this year and the strongest one to date. F1 tornados can pack winds up to 170km/h. _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ 3) This past week's weather was highlighting by our first heat of the season. Much of Southern Ontario broke the +30C mark at the end of the week and some locations near the Sault reach +29C on Friday. The warm air and humidity brought the energy needed to produce severe weather in the North on Friday. This contributed to a possible tornado near Echo Bay and severe thunderstorm regions across the region. Hail and heavy downpours were typical of these storms. Sunday night brought severe weather across Southern Ontario. At one point most regions west of Toronto were under severe thunderstorm and tornado watches. One tornado was reported in Lucan, just north of London by the OPP. Other warnings for tornadoes were issued for the Grimsby region but no other confirmation of tornados have yet been made. This coming week shows a cooling trend early in the week as a cold front arrives Monday. Temperatures climb again midweek and stabilize near normal by week's end. _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ 4) Ontario continues to have a low wildfire risk. Currently Ontario continues to have resources assisting with Manitoba forest fires including: * 2 - CL-415’s (6 crew people) * 1 Birddog aircraft (3 crew people) * 22 FireRanger Crews (88 people) * Agency Reps (3 crew people) * hose and pumps Fires in Ontario have been at records lows this spring. Under 100 Ha of fires have burned compared to over 35,000 Ha, last year at this time. As of Sunday (the time of publishing) there was only one active wildfire in the province, near Timmins, that was less near 0.1 Ha in size. Conditions continue to be conducive to a low fire risk for most of the province, for the coming week. _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ 5) ...the 21st Century is when everything changes... Global warming has certainly heightened people's awareness of natural disasters. Whether related or not, recent storm events are linked to proof of global warming. Earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, ice storms, blizzards and the like certainly would make the most rational person consider the probabilities of an event like this hitting close to home. A recent survey showed that sixty-one percent of North Americans had not “made a specific plan for how you and your family would leave your home if you had to evacuate in case of an emergency situation,” and 68 percent had not “put together a disaster supplies kit with water, food, medicine, and other supplies. A resident of Northern Ontario could certainly imagine a winter scenario where roads could be closed, power lines down and emergency services strained. It happens several times each winter - something lasting several days is possible, if not inevitable. Yet how many of us could live trapped in our homes for several days during a winter storm? Not many people have generators, water supplies or even knowledge of a local public warming center. In an age of bigger storms and an ever growing dependence on the power grid it is important to prepare now - before it happens. I have looked up and prepared some suggestions for an Emergency kit...the least you should have at home... An emergency preparedness kit will help ensure your safety and the safety of your family. Making one is easy, inexpensive, and quick - in fact, you probably already have most of the items you need. Your emergency preparedness kit should contain adequate supplies to keep you and your family self-sufficient in your home for at least three days. Assemble the supplies in an easy-to-carry container and store it in an easy to get to location. Your kit should contain: * Battery-operated or crank radio * Flashlights and extra light bulbs * Extra batteries * Cash or traveler's cheques * Utility knife * Rope * Shovel * Fire extinguisher; ABC type * Tube tent * Blankets/sleeping bags * Plastic sheeting * Candles and matches/lighter * Extra car keys * Important papers (see checklist) * Food and bottled water (see checklist) * Clothing and footwear (one change per person) * Toilet paper and other personal supplies * First aid kit (see checklist) * Backpack/duffel bag * Plastic garbage bags, ties * Disinfectant, chlorine bleach * Extra fuel for car, stored in a safe place * Map of area and compass * Adjustable wrench, to shut off household utilities * Whistle (in case you need to attract attention) * Playing cards, games, paper, pencils _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ 6) What's New At ShieldsWeather.com The Blog continues to grow and gain popularity. I enjoy the user feedback and involvement. Check the Blog out at http://www.shieldsweather.com/blog/ The last several days have been record setting days for the blog as people across the province have been checking in on the damage from the possible tornado near Echo Bay! _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ 7) A Look Ahead to next week's E-Zine. My update on earthquakes in Canada has been pushed back another week due to the extra time needed to cover the Laird Hill / Bar River storm. I will shoot to get that information in the E-Zine next week. _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ 8) Steal This E-zine! This E-zine is free, and I personally guarantee it's worth at least 176 times what you paid for it. I invite you to "steal" it, but only if you do it nicely . . . Distasteful legal babble: This E-zine is copyright Jerry Shields, 2008. Extremely tasteful postscript: I encourage you to email this E-zine to any friends of yours who might benefit from it. I only ask that you email the whole thing, not bits and pieces. Otherwise, you'll be getting desperate calls at midnight from your friends asking where they can get their own free subscription. At the moment, there is one place to subscribe: My site: http://www.ShieldsWeather.com _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ 9) Reprint Rights Permission is granted to use any of the articles in this e-zine in your own e-zine or web site, as long as you include the following blurb with it: Jerry Shields publishes the ShieldsWeather Natural Disaster E-zine every week. If you want to learn more about weather, natural disasters, global warming, climatological events, wildland fires, AND have FUN doing it, visit http://www.ShieldsWeather.com. _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ Jerry Shields Publisher, ShieldsWeather Natural Disaster E-zine _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ Jerry Shields President and CEO of 1531038 ONTARIO LTD. 2932 Hilton Road, Box 122 Hilton Beach, ON P0R 1G0 If you no longer wish to receive communication from me: jerry@shieldsweather.com To update your contact information: jerry@shieldsweather.com