Weak tornado lands briefly in town of Mont-Laurier

The high winds that swept Quebec Sunday night were not an extraordinary event, but the damage caused in the Laurentian town of Mont-Laurier was the result of a tornado, an Environment Canada meteorologist said Monday.

“Based on the damage we can see on pictures and from videos on the scene … it was a tornado,” Alexandre Parent said. “We base this on the damage we’re seeing on the roof and on the carport (of a house in the area). Usually with a microburst (a sudden, violent downdraft of wind and rain), this isn’t the kind of damage you’ll find.”

The agency said the EF-0 tornado — the weakest possible intensity — was fairly localized and probably hit an area spanning only a few dozen metres for a brief time.

Parent says a cold front from Ontario and rare warm, wet October air created ideal conditions, and that the tornado hit in an area susceptible to tornadoes.

“It was a classic fall storm where we still have some warm and humid air while the air coming from the north is pretty cold,” he said. “There was nothing really extraordinary about it, although people who went to bed last night certainly woke up to a colder morning.”

It’s the seventh observed tornado this year in Quebec. On average, the province records about six each year. No injuries were reported in the storm.

Meanwhile in the Montreal area, a frost advisory was extended for Monday night. But temperatures for the city are forecast rise to the double digits again Tuesday and remain between 15 and 19 C throughout the week.