Western is poised to become the country’s leading authority on tornado tracking and research thanks to a major expansion of its Northern Tornadoes Project. With a goal of detecting and analyzing every tornado in Canada, project organizers know its findings will save lives, mitigate losses and strengthen our understanding of severe storm activity.
“It will have an impact on the lives of Canadians,” said David Sills, who joined Western as the new Northern Tornadoes Project Executive Director. “We hope to be able to affect the timeliness and quality of tornado warnings that go out in a partnership with Environment Canada.”
The Northern Tornadoes Project began two years ago with a pilot study to conduct aerial analyses of storm damage in remote, unpopulated areas of northern Ontario. Its expansion now is a result of an investment from ImpactWX, a Toronto-based social impact fund that also funded the initial research.
The expanded scope includes the establishment of the ImpactWX Chair in Severe Storms Engineering, as well as the expansion and intensification of Northern Tornadoes Project data collection, analysis and archiving activities across Canada.
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