Looking back at a decade of weather events in Windsor-Essex
Over the past 10 years, Windsor-Essex has experienced tornadoes, floods, and everything in between
From tornadoes to record flooding and everything in between, let's look back at 10 years of weather events in Windsor-Essex.
2019: A new normal
In 2019, temperature records — both lows and highs — were set in Windsor and the surrounding area. In some cases, heat warnings were issued too soon, resulting in mixed messages from Environment Canada and the municipality.
Ice cover continued to decrease on the Great Lakes, increasing coastal erosion problems. Experts said the Great Lakes will "bounce back" and have shown resilience year-after-year.
This year, Windsor also joined a Red Cross pilot program on flood preparation education.
2018: 'Eerie' funnel clouds, tornados
In July 2018, "eerie" funnel clouds were spotted in the area — for three days in a row. Funnel clouds were photographed in Lakeshore, Tecumseh, parts of Chatham-Kent and in south Windsor.
In September 2018, three tornadoes touched down in southwestern Ontario, including McGregor, Comber and Amherstburg. It took until the end of October 2018 for Environment Canada to confirm the tornadoes, while municipal officials defended not issuing public warnings.
2017: Record rainfall causes 'Code Orange,' strands motorists
Devonshire Mall was closed Aug. 29, 2017 after a one-day record rainfall dropped 54.7mm of rain on Windsor. The hospital declared a 'Code Orange' and motorists abandoned their vehicles in flooded streets.
Radar estimates showed that as much as 140mm of rain landed on the Tecumseh area, while just 14mm of rain fell on Harrow.
2016: Drought-like conditions cause problems for farms, trees
Some Essex County farmers spent the summer of 2016 wishing for rain as drought-like conditions reminiscent of 1988 caused stress. Following the record-setting June rainfalls from the year before, farmers said they wanted a "normal year" but weren't sure what that was anymore.
The drought — Windsor received only 13 millimetres of rain that August — also caused leaves on trees to change colour and fall off. Environmentalists blamed that on the lack of rainfall.
2015: Superbowl snowstorm
On Feb. 1, 2015 — Superbowl Sunday — the biggest storm of the winter in Ontario slammed into southwestern parts of the province, with more than 40 centimetres of snow falling between Windsor and Hamilton.
2014: A snowless December
2014 was the coldest year on record in Windsor, with an average temperature of 8.2 C. However, no measurable amounts of snow fell in Windsor in December 2014 — the first time since 1943.
On the other hand, November 2014 broke snowfall records. About 10 times more snow fell in November 2014 than it did in November 2013.
An August deluge also battered Windsor in 2014, with a 10-hour storm dropping 70 millimetres of rain on the city in one day. Just a week later, another storm brought two EF0 tornadoes to the region.
2013: Windsorites head to Toronto to help with ice storm aftermath
Tens of thousands of people spent Christmas 2013 in the dark after an ice storm knocked out power in large parts of Ontario and Quebec.
Disaster management volunteers for the Red Cross from Windsor went into more battered parts of Ontario to help residents dig out from the deep freeze.
2012: Ten straight days of 20 degree weather
Across North America, temperatures in March 2012 were unlike any year before. The long-lasting intense heat eclipsed every previous record.
In Windsor, there were 10 straight days with temperatures above 20 C.
2011: The year of wild weather
All four seasons in 2011 broke records, with wild ups and downs. From the snowiest year on record to summer temperatures so hot you could cook on the dashboard of a car, 2011 had it all.
It rained so much, Amherstburg residents threatened to sue the town for not stopping their basements from flooding.
2010: More than half of Ontario's tornadoes hit in Windsor-Essex
Ontario's seasons in 2010 weren't extreme on their own, but more than half the tornadoes this year landed in the Windsor-Essex region.
On June 6, 2010, a series of tornadoes tracked through Essex County — up to F2 intensities — and a state of emergency was declared.
About 15,000 people went without electricity for days and the event cost about $100 million in insured losses.
More tornadoes ravaged Midland, Ont. later that month, with a fifth Essex County tornado landing in Amherstburg in July.