"Tornadoes over water" were observed this summer in Eastern Canada
The Northern Tornadoes Project, based at Western University, has confirmed that multiple waterspouts — tornadoes occurring over water — have been observed recently in Quebec and Nova Scotia.
Marc-André Bourgeois-Gaudet was on his boat off the shores of Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec, last Friday when he witnessed several funnel clouds descending from the sky like tornadoes.
As he approached, the rain intensified beyond anything he had ever experienced, describing it as "like having a waterfall fall on my head."
The Northern Tornadoes Project, based at Western University, has confirmed that multiple waterspouts — tornadoes occurring over water — have been observed recently in Quebec and Nova Scotia.
Both Îles-de-la-Madeleine and Inverness, Nova Scotia, reported these phenomena on August 23. Another waterspout was noted over the Lake of Two Mountains near Vaudreuil, Quebec, west of Montreal, two days later.
August also saw several waterspouts in Ontario, primarily around the Great Lakes.
David Sills, executive director of The Northern Tornadoes Project, explained that a waterspout is essentially a tornado that forms over water rather than land.
"A tornado is a rotating column of air that extends from the lower part of a storm cloud to the surface, which can be either land or water," he said.
Waterspouts have gained attention recently, particularly following the sinking of a superyacht off Sicily last week, which resulted in seven deaths.
Italian civil protection officials suggested that a waterspout may have been involved in the incident, occurring at the location where the British-flagged Bayesian was docked.
Although waterspouts can cause damage if they strike a boat directly, Sills noted that most are less destructive than their land-based counterparts.
He stated that waterspouts generally have wind speeds ranging from 90 to 130 kilometers per hour — relatively weak by tornado standards — and are classified as EF-0.
Due to the cooler air over lakes, which tends to suppress thunderstorm activity, strong tornadoes are less common over water.
However, they can occur, as evidenced by a waterspout over Lake Huron in 2011 that later struck Goderich, Ontario, as a powerful F3 tornado.
While waterspouts can indeed sink boats, most are slow-moving enough to be avoided, Sills said.
Bourgeois-Gaudet from Îles-de-la-Madeleine reported that he did not feel in imminent danger during his encounter with the waterspout.
He noted that while the water was choppy, the wind was not strong enough to capsize his boat, though visibility was challenging due to the heavy rain.
Since its inception in 2017, the tornadoes project has recorded about 15 waterspouts annually.
This year has already seen 18 confirmed or suspected events, indicating a slightly above-average frequency, according to Sills.
The waterspouts in Quebec have attracted considerable attention, likely because such events are less frequently reported compared to the Great Lakes area.
Some of this year's waterspouts in Quebec are among the first documented along the St. Lawrence River since 2017. Improved reporting, including social media documentation, has contributed to this increased visibility.
"The conditions certainly can support waterspouts there," Sills said, adding, "I wouldn’t say it’s rare, just not well documented."
Due to enhanced reporting, the number of documented tornadoes in Canada has increased from approximately 60 per year before 2017 to nearly 100 on average.
