Canada chasing

[Todd Lemery]

I live in Michigan's upper peninsula and have never really considered chasing in Canada. That may be a mistake because of my Northern location. That being said, I suspect that chasing in Canada is probably a little different than chasing in the states and I could probably use some advice about the differences instead of going in "blind" and messing things up.
Can anybody with experience chasing up there help me out with road networks, cell phone service etc?

 

[Kyle Brittain]

Chasing in Canada is only really feasible in the prairie provinces. Where you are (close to the Sault) and across northern Ontario, the road network is extremely sparse and visibility terrible (heavily forested, rolling terrain). Southern Ontario, while being Canada's most tornado prone region, does have a better road network, however visibility (due to forested, rolling terrain and haze, as well as congested major thoroughfares) makes it a less than optimal place to chase. I imagine it would be like chasing in adjacent lower Michigan or northern Indiana/Ohio.

Southern and central Alberta, and southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba have generally excellent road networks (a lot of grid) and great visibility, and is Canada's second most tornado prone region (a northern extension of "tornado alley," similar to the Dakotas). Alberta (where I live) is drier, as gulf moisture rarely makes it here, and I would imagine is very similar to high plains chasing stateside. Out here we are known for our hailstorms and we probably have more cold core events than supercell tornadoes (though we do have the odd strong tornado). Further east, in SK and MB, moisture availability is often much greater and there are often similar setups to those of the Great Plains in spring. The prime season to chase in Canada is from mid June through July.

Depending on your provider, cell reception isn't really an issue anywhere in the prairies. One can generally find a decent hotel to stay in so long as you are near the Trans-Canada Highway (TCH) or a major secondary highway, though away from these it would be harder to find something last minute (more Ma and Pa kind of places) - again, similar I imagine to the US Plains. One thing I like about the US over Canada is the interstate system...with all the fuel stops, rest areas, and hotels along the interstate. We don't quite have this level of "sophistication", but you can certainly get by. You will also find that much of the prairie region has amazing natural beauty!

Here's a well-known video of a Manitoba wedge:

Even Reed has said he has almost moved to Canada after a couple of his chases here

Of course, the other benefit to Canada is that storm chasing here hasn't quite caught on to the same extent as it has in the US...thus, smaller convergences near big storms. Mind you, we do have a much smaller population and fewer overall sigtor setups! The community is pretty tight nit, and there are probably only 50 or so "real" storm chasers (don't ask me to define that other than that they chase regularly and know what they're looking at) among others in the prairie provinces.

 

[Todd Lemery]

Thanks for the scoop Kyle, I'll scratch Ontario off my list. I can enjoy the frustration of staring at miles of trees here without the travel. The Southern prairies sound pretty promising though. Despite my closeness to Canada, I've unfortunately driven a couple of miles into Canada whenever I have gone there. Shame on me.
I have Verizon on my cell and AT&T on my IPad. (That way I can use either one for a hot spot). Which one do you think provides the best service up there?

 

[Pierre-Marc Doucet]

Actually southern Ontario peninsula looks a lot like the plains too. I've been there a couple of times and it's a really good terrain with good road network.

As for the storms, this part of the country has seen a lot of the strongest tornadoes in Canada history. Each summer there is a couple of setup's worth watching with low pressure systems passing in the great lakes region and there is often lake effect boundaries in the region.

 

[Drew Terril]

Thanks for the scoop Kyle, I'll scratch Ontario off my list. I can enjoy the frustration of staring at miles of trees here without the travel. The Southern prairies sound pretty promising though. Despite my closeness to Canada, I've unfortunately driven a couple of miles into Canada whenever I have gone there. Shame on me.
I have Verizon on my cell and AT&T on my IPad. (That way I can use either one for a hot spot). Which one do you think provides the best service up there?

It's been years since I've been to Canada. I want to go back pretty badly for a visit. Beautiful country.

As far as the cell providers go, most of the Canadian providers use GSM, so you'd have a better chance with AT&T. I'd check with them and see what it would cost to use data and make calls up there though. I think there is a CDMA provider or two but, if memory serves me correctly, they are largely confined to the more heavily populated areas.

 

[Kyle Brittain]

I have Verizon on my cell and AT&T on my IPad. (That way I can use either one for a hot spot). Which one do you think provides the best service up there?

I don't personally know too much about that, but I found this webpage helpful:

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Travel-g153339-c163066/Canada:Mobile.Phones.In.Canada.html

Re: southern Ontario:

As Pierre mentioned above, I'm sure there will be some eastern Canadian chasers that will disagree with me
However, it seems to me that, from a geographical standpoint, chasing on a peninsula is somewhat limiting. Storms, if not initiating on a lake effect convergence boundary, usually move in from Lake Huron (after being in MI) and exit over Lake Erie or Ontario (into NY). Not to mention, the road grid through much of southern Ontario and Quebec is at an old school angle to a classic north-south/east-west grid, which seems more confusing when navigating near severe storms.

There have been many strong and some violent tornadoes in southern Ontario, though discrete supercell modes are less common there (similar to the eastern US), with more tornadoes probably coming by way of QLCSs. Locations of tornadoes are even less predictable along these, and most people don't typically like chasing lines.

The 401 highway corridor is Canada's most heavily populated region, and like I mentioned before, visibility is generally worse there due to a combination of air pollutants and frequently high humidity. Vegetation would be like something between the west and east sides of the I-35 in OK. Again, less than optimal, but not impossible.

The west on the other hand has also had a few violent tornadoes (the deadly Edmonton and Regina tornadoes, as well as Canada's only EF-5, in Elie, MB in 2007). Here though, it is much less heavily populated with better visibility, a great road network, and with more discrete supercell events. Sorry ON!

Scroll down to see a map of all recorded Canadian tornadoes (cute hey?):
http://www.ec.gc.ca/scitech/default...5-1&xsl=privateArticles2,viewfull&po=4008C164
The most chase-able ones occur in the prairie provinces - the western "blob" (AB, SK, and MB from W-E). The upper image is of the Elie EF-5 tornado.

So next July after the spring season when you're baking under a ridge with boring weather, and you're eager to satisfy those chasing urges, come check out the Canadian prairies. It's about $0.73 to the CDN dollar and falling! (This coming spring in the plains is gonna be tough on my wallet).

 

[Pierre-Marc Doucet]

Actually I do agree with you Kyle lol. I would rather go and chase in the Canadian plain than southern Ontario, but for me it's more like local chasing to go there.

And yup, tornadoes are coming a lot from QLCS and lines of semi-discrete supercells most of the time in that area. It's more challenging but still fun in my opinion.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

My Verizon smartphone works fine in Canada with a international plan - I believe it was $25 for 1GB and some limited number of minutes. Looking at Verizons site, they have a travelpass now which is pretty awesome. $2/day for Canada and $10/day for other countries. Would have saved me some $ in Finland!!

http://www.verizonwireless.com/landingpages/travelpass-countries/

 

[calvinkaskey]

There was a worthwhile outbreak near Toronto this summer. I don't have a passport though so. It was already several hours one way from home for me. Here is some mammatus from that outbreak. Very frequent lightning occured Rochester,NY to the east.

 

[T Farncombe]

Hey folks! I'm from Toronto and thought I'd weigh in (at least re Ontario).

It certainly isn't easy chasing in the province, but it's not without rewards! Many of our tors are QLCS-embedded and this fact alone makes them challenging to forecast and chase... but this certainly isn't always the case. We do see isolated and supercellular storm modes, and lake breeze fronts set up frequently and can get things spinning when you might not otherwise expect. Haze, low bases and HP modes are often additional difficult factors to contend with... but again, not always. The terrain is far from ideal (it's certainly not West Kansas), however in Southern and Central Ontario, there is rolling farmland with relatively long views and not too many trees, making for some scenic opps amidst a relatively good road network.

I've caught two photogenic tornadoes chasing in the province and have chaser friends who have many more than that under their belts. Here are a few pics from one of my proudest days as a chaser, August 7, 2013, chasing near Arthur, Ontario. More at: www.highwaysandhailstones.com