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Ontario Storm Chasers Warn Public Through Photography

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Photo shot in London, Ontario. Shot during a tornado warning for Middlesex county. photo: S. Sills

Did you know on average 12 tornadoes strike Ontario each year? That’s why David Chapman (@northof44pics) and I (@wxspencersills) commit our springs and summers to capturing severe thunderstorms on video and through photography.

My name is Spencer Sills and I am a chaser located in South Western Ontario. I have been chasing storms for about 20 years. I became obsessed with the weather and more specifically severe weather in 1996. On April 20, 1996 a tornado had hit Williamsford, Ontario. This was my first experience with a tornado and it has become a permanent fixture in my mind, partially due to the fact there was still snow on the ground the day it had hit.

Then in the summer of 2011, there were fourteen confirmed tornadoes including  the Goderich F3 tornado as well as three tornadoes during the August 24th severe weather outbreak during the late afternoon and evening. I was unable to be out during either of these days but what I was able to do was keep the public informed of the current severe weather as well as help give warning for the tornadoes.

Photo shot in South West London, Ontario. A waterspout advisory was in effect for Lake Huron and Erie, while on the way to Lake Huron I came across this Cold Core Funnel off of a early morning thunder shower. image: S. Sills

A Summer from years ago was…interesting.  I witnessed more than  my fair share of active weather. I encountered five funnel clouds, several gust fronts or more commonly known as squall lines here in Ontario, and hail from pea size to golf ball sized  in Seaforth. I’ve also encountered strong wind storms which included a storm in Birr, Ontario which uprooted several large trees.

My personal worst storm occurred on June 7, 2011 in Elora, Ontario. A large and intense cell came through late at night bringing with it 80-90 km/h winds, heavy downpours, frequent lightning and quarter-coin size hail. I was fortunate to not be injured during this storm because I was in a tent at the time and had no warning beforehand other than a loud lightning strike before it hit. There was a severe thunder storm warning with the cell but our campground chose not to relay that information to campers and I only found out about the warning once I put on my portable radio after the storm came.  That same storm went on to produce a tornado warning over Hamilton but did not spawn a tornado that night. It did however cause extensive wind damage in the city.

Cloud to Ground Lightning: photographed by D. Chapman

My chase partner is David Chapman.  David and I both grew up within minutes of each other but never met until recently due to the power of twitter.  From twitter I was able to glean that we both have similar interests and goals which will allow us to mesh well together. [ Check the hashtage #WX on twitter for tweets related to extreme weather CP ]

Hello Silo readers. My name is David T. Chapman and I am a professional photographer with a passion for storm photography. I developed an interest in weather when lightning hit my house in Guelph, Ontario, years ago. The thunder was terrifying and the rain was so heavy that even though I was only three years old at the time, I have clear, vivid memories of the storm. My interest in weather was rekindled in the late 1990’s when I spotted my first multi-vortex tornadoes with my dad and brother. Since then, I have followed the weather every day to determine the best time for photography in all kinds of conditions.

Waaaay back in 2011 , the Ontario storm season was an active one. It allowed me to get a personal record number of lightning photographs in one season with 105, not including sheet lightning shots. My first storm was in April, when a very weak storm pushed into the Niagara region. Something that you don’t see very often is a thunderstorm with snow on the ground, but that night I had both. But the storm chasing season  really didn’t start seriously until the end of May when an evening storm rolled through Southwestern Ontario right into my area. The squall line formed directly to our west and there was no way around it. We had to puncture the core of the storm to try to find a dry slot. We were hit hard with heavy rains, strong winds and continuous lightning.

Anvil Crawler: photographed  Southeast of Hamilton, Ontario image: D. Chapman

One of the hardest things to get is a lightning photograph when there is a downpour because it blurs the image. The first line of storms went through when we crossed an open field area and then we were hit by a strong second line of storms. Extremely strong straight lines came at us with winds easily in excess of 90 km/hr. We got into position, but unfortunately, with the rain still pounding our photography team, it made it impossible to get crisp, clear lightning shots. It wasn’t until after the storm had passed that the back end of it lit up and we were able to capture some very beautiful lightning.

The summer carried on with sporadic thunderstorm activity consisting of small thunderstorm cells with intense lightning and hail. Generally, with smaller storms, you only get 4 to 5 lightning shots. I’ve come back after chasing a storm perfectly with only 1 or 2 lightning shots to show for it. It wasn’t until the outbreak of thunderstorms that our team had a very successful night of shooting. On that night, Faith Beni and I ended up in St. Mary’s, Ontario. There were tornado watches all across Ontario, the most I had ever seen. The thunderstorm cell that we were interested in was towards Nairn, Ontario. We left the Niagara region at 5:30 p.m. and got to St. Mary’s around 7:45 p.m.

Without daylight left, the thoughts of getting a tornado quickly changed to an opportunity for lightning photographs instead. One of the most dangerous things to do is to chase a tornadic thunderstorm in the dark, which is why our team has a policy to not chase these types of storms at night. We tend to focus on weaker storm cells that don’t have the tornadic potential but still have lots of lightning. The night of the 24th, though, was different. It seemed that any storm cell had the potential to drop a tornado. We pulled back to St. Mary’s and then we started getting reports of rotation heading to St. Mary’s.

In just under 2 minutes, I saw 4 reports of rotation for St. Mary’s. We started to get pounded with large hail and the the hydro went out. We left St. Mary’s and pushed north towards what looked to be some late evening twilight. We got to the back of the storm and were able to photograph the lightning that was in it. We got some of the best anvil-crawlers that I have ever seen. Anvil-crawlers are a particular type of lightning that can either go for short distances or for distances over 100 km.

This year for the first time, Spencer Sills and I will be working together to get some very powerful images. Our biggest goal is to get a photograph of a tornado. Last year, I was close 3 times. The first was in Grimsby, where an EF0 hit and damaged a small gazebo. Eric Chapman and I were right on the storm but unfortunately we could not see the tornado because of heavy precipitation. The second was the Nairn tornado and the third was a rotating wall-cloud that I photographed towards Bryson, Quebec.

Spencer and I often hear about how tornadoes don’t happen here. We want to let the public know that they can and do occur here, in South Western Ontario so that watches and warnings should always be taken seriously. The Goderich tornado in 2011, in which one person died, is a grim reminder of just how intense tornadoes can be and that they do, in fact, affect Ontario residents.

Photo shot in Nairn, Ontario. Tornado damage in Shady Pines Campground in Nairn. A tornado touched down the previous night and bent these pine trees in half, the tornado also caused extensive tree damage in the area as well as damaged a house and destroyed a metal silo. image: S. Sills

David and I both have experience in chasing storms, and take safety very seriously. We will be travelling with a First Aid kit just as well as weather alert radios and radar to help us along our way, we hope that we don’t ever need the kit but it’s always a great idea especially if others are in need of help, we could very well be the first people on the scene of a possible tragedy so we must be prepared. We will be posting pictures and videos throughout the season but do not recommend that anyone attempt to recreate either of them and place themselves in danger.

I will be working with David Chapman in hopes to help warn others as well as capture these storms through video and photography to share with others who may not get to experience them. We are ready to combine our passion for storms to get the best results possible and share those results with others.

Earth

The Storms Of Ontario & The Chasers Behind Them

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Now that Storm Season is underway in Ontario, I felt it was time to write another article on the subject. This one will be a little different compared to the Silo articles I have written in the past. It will be about those golden moments when both the storm chaser and the breathtaking cloud structure will be in the same scene together. 

There are a lot of excellent storm chasers in our province who have an absolute love for weather.

I could write a entire paragraph with just the names of those in our province alone. Whether it be photographing, forecasting from home, or reporting the storms, the chasers share the same dedication and passion. They all have different qualities that make them enjoyable to be around and to share the experiences as a group. In this collection, you will see a series of photos showing the storm chasers in action across various parts of the province. I only wish I had more photos of everyone in the storm chasing community. 

This photo is of a man I have chased with for over 19 years now. He is my dad, Brian Chapman. He and I have worked along side each other for many years, tracking down numerous lightning storms, several tornadoes and epic squall lines like that which is visible in this photograph. This storm was taken on August 2, 2016, south of Goderich, Ontario. You can see the layering of the gust front shelf cloud as it approached our location. The storm also had golf-ball sized hail in it with damaging winds. There were unconfirmed reports of a tornado wrapped in rain and hail with this storm, just north of our location, according to fellow chasers in the area.

Brian and I chased for 9 years without portable radar, using radar at home. I would animate it in my head and figure out where we had to be. Also, while out there, we would use AM radio to gage how intense the storms were as well as their general location based on the intensity of the static on the station. We are both happy to have portable information now, but when that fails every now and then, we are both quite comfortable using only visual cues. 

It is hard to believe that Spencer Sills and I used to live 10 kilometres apart when we were kids. We were both crazy about the weather. I even went to church across the road from where he lived, yet we didn’t know each other until connecting on social media years later when our friendship grew into an unbreakable bond. He and I both used to chase on our bicycles when we were younger, before we could drive, if no adult was able to take us out.  That definitely led to some quick peddling back home at times.

We both have a background where instinct is a big part of chasing. We feel comfortable not having radar information. Spencer is an amazing forecaster and helped get me started in the world of forecasting. He is one of my all-time favorite photographers whether it is storm related or other various subjects. In this particular photo, you can see the huge shelf cloud coming across Lake Huron, just north of Grand Bend.

It was roughly 10 minutes after this, that we had an experience of a lifetime.   

In the photo above, you see that we have a very large and heavy rain/hail core coming at us. Not quite as green as in the previous photo but this storm was dropping hail around quarter-size. It was a long chase day, something Kyle Robertson and I are used to doing.

Both Kyle, my dad and I have something in common in this respect — that is, we will literally chase anywhere in any type of terrain for as long as necessary. We are comfortable no matter how heavy the trees are for blocking visibility because we always believe we will get that opening when we need it most. To give you an idea, we have all chased in the Bancroft area, north of Georgian Bay towards Sudbury and even on the north end of Manitoulin Island.

In this particular chase, we started in the Listowel area after leaving the Niagara region, ending up in the Owen Sound area before getting something to eat in Collingwood.  As we were on our way home, a line of storms fired up on Lake Erie, so we headed to Port Maitland and then across to Crystal Beach until 3:00 a.m. in the morning. This is typically how Kyle and I both are. We have a confidence in each other for getting us to the target area and that we will get amazing photos when we arrive. Kyle is one of the most determined, driven people that I know. He has a superb knowledge on the history of tornadoes in Ontario and is an excellent photographer. 

I don’t have many photos of myself while storm chasing.

I am often busy running from camera to camera. On June 12, 2014, close to Fonthill and travelling towards St. Catharines, there was a tornado warned storm that went through this area. It put on a tremendous lightning show along with very heavy rain as you can see on this roadway near the town of Rockway. My dad and I tracked this storm around midnight. Fortunately, it did not develop a tornado. Tornadoes are bad at anytime but when they hit at night, it can be a lot worse due to the fact that people are sleeping. It is a good thing that Ontario is not prone to having many tornadoes at night. It is still important to listen to all warnings but generally we have not had any really major tornadoes hit at night in recent years.

The photo above is another look at my dad doing what he loves to do which is videotaping  rotating wall-clouds. He used the vehicle in this situation to shield him and the camera from the winds. It helps to eliminate camera shake when hit by gusty winds. This rotating wall cloud, like most of them in the northern hemisphere, was rotating counter-clockwise. It was shortly after this that it tightened up into a nice cylinder shape before dissipating and eventually elevating over Lake Erie. 

My brother, Eric Chapman, doesn’t get to storm chase often but when he does, we often get to see some interesting cloud structure like this one.

This was a large outflow boundary that first developed near Grimsby, Ontario,  where it was still attached to the storm. We continued to track this storm all the way to Niagara Falls before following it south down the Niagara River to Fort Erie. At this point it had completely detached itself from the core of the storm. This is often when storms form a roll cloud but this one didn’t quite have those characteristics. I call these “rolling shelf clouds” because they have features of both. Generally, you can see the rolling effect in the bottom part of it, and at the same time it has a shelf-like feature above, but with no rain-core or storm attached to it.  

A little change of pace in the photo above.

My friend, Mark Robinson, also known as one of the Storm Hunters on The Weather Network, has a passion for extreme weather. He has chased storms like Hurricane Katrina, as well as the largest tornado in recorded history in the El Reno area, on May 31, 2013, that measured as much as 5.2 kilometres in width. That all said, he is very much dedicated to what we get here in Ontario. From storm chasing in the summer and winter, to hunting down the big autumn wind storms, like this one, that seem to hit at least once every November. This particular photo was taken in Crystal Beach, Ontario. A hot spot for big waves and strong winds during the fall and spring. 

A fellow storm chaser and friend of mine, Dave Patrick, a.k.a. “Tornado Dave“, is one of my all-time favorite chasers. After growing up in Grey County and chasing with my dad for around 5 years, Dave was the first storm chaser in Ontario that I learned about outside of our own team. It was when I came across his website, that I realized there were other dedicated chasers in our province.

It was really neat to study his site for years and then to finally meet him in March of 2012.

It was in August, 2013, after both he and our team were tracking the same tornado east of Arthur, that our friendship and bond grew. Like many of the chasers I have mentioned, Dave and I could talk for hours about storms, tornadoes and whatever else was in the sky. I have learned a lot from him for which I am truly grateful. He truly has a gift of reading both the sky in the daytime as well as at night. Although I don’t have any photos of him, I chose a photo of lightning because of the force of a person that he is and the dedication he demonstrates when documenting weather.  

   

The main focus for our team this year will be anything that forms a super cell tornado or waterspout.

Kyle, Brian and myself have documented so much in the way of thunderstorm activity now, that we only really need to work on adding to our already good-sized tornado and waterspout collection. It is also our true passion to try to figure out the puzzle of where the next major event could happen and to be there when it does. Waterspouts are easier in that respect, but it still requires a lot of work to make sure you are in the right location at the right time. As for tornadoes, our province averages about 12.5 per year or as I like to call it, 12 tornadoes and a funnel cloud. Many of them are short lived and can be quite sporadic with respect to where they form. So when you start to break it all down, to get the timing just right is more like an art form than anything else.

We never stop working on ways to improve the methods of forecasting and documentation. The waterspout you see in this photograph was taken on Halloween, 2017, on the most eastern part of Lake Erie, south of Fort Erie, looking east towards the city of Buffalo, New York. It was by far one of the best Halloweens I have ever had. I saw 9 waterspouts, 17 funnels and 2 spray rings that day. It was amazing to witness that over a span of only 2 hours.   

For the 2020 storm chasing season, I will only be out for supercell tornadoes, waterspouts, sprites, blue jets and local lightning work.

I have every other aspect of thunderstorms that I need ranging from the small to the big to the unusual. I have combined all of my years of data and have created a powerful, educational and entertaining series of programs that I present in person in front of crowds and which are now also available through online virtual presentations.  For the Silo, David. T. Chapman.

To learn more about Kyle Robertson, Spencer Stills and some of the storm chasers mentioned in this article, contact David T. Chapman at his link above.