| Windsor–Tecumseh Tornado of 1946 | |
| The Windsor Tornado, taken at Windsor Airport looking northwest towards downtown and Detroit. | |
| Date: | June 17, 1946 |
| Time: | Around 6:00 PM. EDT (2300 UTC) |
| Rating: | F4 tornado |
| Damages: | $9,663,000 (estimated in 1946 US Dollars)[1] |
| Casualties: | 17 |
| Area affected: | Windsor, Ontario, La Salle, Ontario, Tecumseh, Ontario and surrounding area |
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The Windsor–Tecumseh Tornado of 1946 was the most powerful tornado to hit Windsor, Ontario, being an F4 in strength, touching down on June 17 of that year. The tornado touched down near River Rouge, Michigan, but crossed the river and cut across southern Windsor, Ontario and northern Sandwich West Township, Ontario (Now the Municipality of LaSalle, Ontario), along a path 35 miles (60 km) in length. It also cut across Highway 3 before weakening somewhat. The storm then touched down as an F4 again at the modern-day intersection of Walker Road and Grand Marais Road, near the center of the city.
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The tornado took a northeastward path, cutting through farmland and forest, an area with few housing subdivisions (at the time, but still many homes), and narrowly missing Windsor Airport (which was located just south of the tornado), before tearing through the northwest part of the Town of Tecumseh, Ontario and dissipating over Lake St. Clair.
The storm's path was roughly 30 m wide, and followed Turkey Creek for much of its length after crossing the Detroit River, and travelled 60 km. The storm's damage ranged from F3-F4, to some speculated F5 damage from completely destroyed houses that were lifted off their foundations.
Since the tornado had destroyed The Windsor Star's main printing offices, the Detroit News offered to help them print their newspapers at their printing facilities until the Star's were repaired, and even gave the Star priority so they could report the news of the tornado to the cities of Windsor, Detroit, and the rest of Ontario.
The tornado knocked out power to most of the city for about a day, and damaged or destroyed roughly 400 homes in Windsor.
After the tornado, looting broke out across the city, but civility and order were quickly restored by the police. Many accounts of the tornado were told over the radio (notably, CKLW, which was Windsor's CBC radio affiliate at the time), and the Ontario Provincial Government even explained the conditions that are favourable for tornado development, to alleviate the public's fears of an "epidemic of tornadoes", especially since one week later, a tornado struck the towns of Fort Frances and International Falls.
It was also just half a mile from the same spot the Windsor Tornado of 1974 touched down.
| Rank | Name (location) | Date | Deaths | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Regina Cyclone | June 30, 1912 | ≥28 | |
| 2 | Edmonton Tornado | July 31, 1987 | 27 | |
| 3 | Windsor–Tecumseh, Ontario tornado | June 17, 1946 | 17 | |
| 4 | Pine Lake Tornado | July 14, 2000 | 12 | |
| =5 | Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec Windsor, Ontario tornado |
August 16, 1888 April 3, 1974 |
9 9 |
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| 7 | Barrie, Ontario tornado | May 31, 1985 | 8 | |
| =8 | Sudbury, Ontario tornado Sainte-Rose, Quebec tornado |
August 20, 1970 June 8, 1953 |
6 6 |
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| =10 | Bouctouche, New Brunswick tornado Portage la Prairie, Manitoba tornado |
August 6, 1879 June 22, 1922 |
5 5 |
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Sources: Environment Canada (PDF) |
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