The Strike!

First of all, I'm sorry it took me so long to get this up on the blog. I was hoping to get it up yesterday but I was out of town for the day and then school got in the way last night and...I'll stop firing excuses at you now. Enjoy the video!



This is slow motion video (shot by Newswatch Videographer Steve Guthrie) of what is likely the lightning strike that destroyed the Woodarts building on Chemong Rd on Tuesday. The location, timing and intensity of the strike all fit with the start of the fire. Luckily no one was hurt so I can say this...what a great video! You can actually count the return strokes! This really illustrates the power of Mother Nature.

A Picture Worth 1,000 Words!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and this one is worth that and more. A big thank you goes out to the Connell family for this AMAZING shot of a funnel cloud northwest of Omemee in the Downeyville area. An amazing shot but also scary as a funnel cloud is literally a tornado that has yet to "touch down." This was taken around 1pm and here is what the radar looked like around that time...

That cell just north of Peterborough is likely the same one that spawned the funnel cloud just 20 minutes before. This same line of activity hit the city's north end pretty hard. A powerful lightning strike lead to a fire which destroyed the Wood Arts building on Chemong Rd and high winds lead to a power outage affecting 1200 people in Smith Township. Newswatch Videogragher Steve Guthrie managed to capture what is likely the strike that caused the fire on video which I'll share with you tonight on Newswatch and post here on the blog a little later tonight. It wasn't just the wind and lightning that caused damage but the rain as well. The system moved through the region at a very slow rate and dumped a considerable amount of rain. (As I write this it is still raining to the north). This rain lead to some flooding in Bridgenorth and we'll have footage of that as well tonight at 6pm on Newswatch. An area of high pressure should clean things up (and calm things down) later this evening but there is still a chance for more activity. That threat diminishes though as the afternoon rolls on. What a day!