Tornado warnings in Ontario as Father's Day storms spark

Sunday, June 18, 2017, 6:58 PM - After a Saturday plagued with tornado warnings, Sunday carried a repeat performance in southern Ontario.

The first tornado warning of Sunday was triggered a little after 3:20 p.m. for the Petawawa area, later expanded, lasting for more than an hour before being ended around 4:35 p.m. There were no immediate reports of damage.

Tornado watches had been in effect for almost all of eastern Ontario for much of Sunday, though they finally dropped as the evening wore on. 

That didn't mean there were no severe storms, and indeed several severe thunderstorm warnings were issued as strong storms fired up here and there. At one point, some 15,000 Hydro One customers were without power.

The previous day, Tornado warnings were issued Saturday afternoon, covering communities along the shores of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, after similar warnings were in effect for London and the GTA, including Toronto.

Most of the warnings eventually dropped for the GTA except for the city of Toronto, where meteorologists were tracking a cell across Scarborough. That warning moved to Pickering and Oshawa as the cell moved out of the city limits, with the warning dropping soonafter. Other warnings, near Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe, lasted past sunset before dropping.

For the remainder of Sunday, some severe thunderstorm watches remained as of 7 p.m., though severe storms were still possible, particularly in the east.

"Thunderstorms are expected to affect portions of southern Ontario early this evening. Damaging wind gusts and torrential downpours giving rainfall amounts in excess of 50 mm are the main threats," Environment Canada said.

WATCH BELOW: Slow-motion lightning captured during Toronto storm