If you had told me six months ago that I would be leading an education-focused paper, I probably wouldn’t have believed you. However, this paper turned out to be a great opportunity to highlight the success of the CSSL Internship Program and its impact on undergraduate students.
I'm excited to share that my latest paper focused on the internship program at @cssl.ca is now available as an early online release in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society!
doi.org/10.1175/BAMS...
Big update 🚀
We’ve launched the Pro Version of the Canadian Mesonet Portal, along with major improvements across all versions of the platform! Pro Version features will continue rolling out gradually throughout the month, so keep an eye out!
Details:
www.uwo.ca/nmp/news/202...
Sorry if you saw any weird tweets from me. Account somehow got hacked!
We are currently implementing a large update to the Canadian Mesonet Portal (meso.cssl.ca), which will result in data being temporarily unavailable for the next 24 hours. Please be patient with us as we work to make the site even better!
The Northern Mesonet Project at the Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory (@cssl.ca) is looking for a Research Software Engineer to join our team!
Please feel free to share with anyone who may be interested! You can find the details of the position (ID# 41923) here: www.uwo.ca/hr/working/s...
Hi Connor,
Our hosting provider (Western University) is having some connectivity issues, and therefore so are we. It might take until Monday to get back up. Weather data is still being archived, even if the front end is not accessible!
View of the "maximum estimated size of hail" product on meso.cssl.ca
(Nothing too crazy though)
Fifth-year #WesternU student Sophia Slabon made a course correction that led her to global learning, community collaboration, fieldwork in geographical sciences and publishing research as an undergrad. 🌍 Read how she's working to future-proof the planet. ⬇️ #AllinWesternU
🌪️A Radar technique has been applied to study tornado tracks in forested areas for the 1st time by @westernu.ca ES prof @planetneish.bsky.social + co-authors Sophia Slabon + Connell Miller at the Canadian Severe Storms Lab.
🔗www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0703899...
A small update from @meso.cssl.ca: we have updated our watches / warnings displayer to match the new colour-coded weather alert system used by Environment Canada.
You can find more information on the new system here: www.canada.ca/en/services/...
Dive into real-world research and fieldwork with the CSSL Summer Internship Program!
Learn more and apply here: uwo.ca/cssl/interns...
Don't miss your chance to gain hands-on experience with leading tornado and hail experts in the field.
Applications close on January 26th.
These papers highlight complementary remote sensing approaches that can help improve spatial coverage and consistency of tornado intensity assessments. Grateful for @cssl.ca team who made these studies possible!
"Evaluating the Utility of NDVI as a Damage Indicator for Crops in the Enhanced Fujita Scale" tests how NDVI changes can be used to identify crop damage from tornadoes, describes limitations, and shows how NDVI can supplement ground surveys in agricultural areas (doi.org/10.1175/JAMC...).
"Synthetic Aperture Radar as a Tool for Tornado Classification in Forested Areas" demonstrates how SAR can reveal tornado damage signatures in strong tornadoes, offering a way to provide EF-scale ratings in heavily forested regions where optical imagery struggles (doi.org/10.1080/0703...).
I'm happy to share two @cssl.ca open-access remote sensing papers that are both related to alternative methods of classifying tornado damage! 🧵:
A violent, EF-5 tornado struck Enderlin, N.D., on June 20, 2025--the first instance of a twister given that designation in the U.S. since the Moore, Okla., event in May 2013. #NDwx www.theweathernetwork.com/en/news/weat...
Amazing work by Ontario's own Dr. Connell Miller of NTP!
Drone photo courtesy Brian Emfinger and used with permission.
The CSSL/NTP assisted the US National Weather Service (NWS) with their upgrading of the official rating of the June 2025 Enderlin, ND tornado from EF3 to EF5.
Announced by the NWS today, it’s the first EF5-rated tornado in the US since 2013.
Details here: uwo.ca/ntp/blog/202...
Image B. Emfinger
Excited to announce that my method for estimating wind speeds based on lofted debris in tornadoes was used as contextual evidence for upgrading the Enderlin, ND tornado to an EF5!
doi.org/10.1175/MWR-...
#NDwx #Enderlin #EF5 #Tornado
I've created a Bluesky Starter Pack called 'Canadian Severe Storms Community'. Makes it easy to find and follow severe storm forecasters, researchers, chasers and enthusiasts in Canada!
go.bsky.app/9eQf9Zd
Please let me know if you'd like to be added or if you think someone else needs to be added.
New (open-access) paper from myself and @davesills.ca!
This was a rare opportunity to examine data from a meteorological tower directly hit by a tornado. Results support mobile radar-based theory that tornado winds intensify near the ground, where most damage occurs.
doi.org/10.1080/0705...
Crazy winds caught by @meso.cssl.ca from the storms on August 20th in AB/SK. Maximum wind speed of nearly 150 km/h recorded in Atlee, AB.
Hail track from the MESH product also showed intense hail (~75 mm)
#abstorm #abwx #skstorm #skwx
Some serious hail being reported from the Northern Mesonet Project hail stations in Calgary. Up to 40-45mm hail in NW Calgary, with multiple stations recording 100s of hail impacts within a 10 minute period. #abstorm #abwx
Source: @meso.cssl.ca / @westernunmp.bsky.social
Reinforcing wall-to-roof connections, @connellmiller.ca said, would allow homes to withstand 95 per cent of tornadoes that occur in Canada. While potent winds can threaten homes, heavy rain and wildfires account for the bulk of #ClimateChange-related damage. www.theweathernetwork.com/en/news/clim...
Video of tornado crossing Hwy 4 SE of Lucan, ON #ONstorm. Not for broadcast except TWN or other permission.
A new update is now live on @meso.cssl.ca! This update allows for viewing historical weather station data both on the map and in graphs. Currently we have up to January 1, 2025 available, but aim to make more historical data available soon! You can see more details here: www.uwo.ca/nmp/news/202...
