Revisiting the deadly 1985 tornadoes that struck central Ontario 40 years later

It was a day that began like any other, warm, humid, with the promise of summer in the air. But all that would soon change in the afternoon hours as the sky turned an ominous shade of green. By the time the sun set on May 31, 1985, Mother Nature had left her mark across central Ontario.

Over the span of six hours, devastating tornadoes touched down, leaving entire communities in ruins. What began as a typical Friday ended with lives lost, homes flattened, and landscapes forever changed.

• Extended | Remembering the Barrie Tornado

The first tornado — a Category EF2 — made a brief appearance around 3 p.m. near Hopeness, in the heart of the Bruce Peninsula. More than an hour later, another EF2 touched down in Hopeville, northwest of Shelburne.

Then the storms intensified.

At 4:15 p.m., Grand Valley was hit by a deadly EF4 tornado, with winds estimated between 330 and 410 km/h. Simultaneously, an EF3 tornado touched down in Alma, near Fergus. Minutes later, another EF3 struck Corbetton, northwest of Melancthon, followed by an EF2 in Lisle, west of CFB Borden, at 4:50 p.m. That same storm system spawned an EF1 tornado just a few kilometres farther east within minutes.

A violent EF4 tornado with wind speeds topping 400 km/h barrelled into Barrie’s south end travelling 15 kilometres, first touching down in the city’s industrial area before ploughing across Highway 400, tearing through the Essa Road and Allandale areas and then crossing into Kempenfelt Bay.

Emergency crews raced to rescue dozens trapped under twisted heaps of metal and rubble in an unrecognizable neighbourhood. The storm left nothing in its path untouched.

One resident described taking cover with a friend when the storm turned violent. “Everything just went black,” he said directly following the storm in a 1985 interview with Total News (now CTV News Barrie). “The wind grew up and my ears started popping, and in about two minutes or less than that it was over.”

Barrie bore the brunt of the destruction that day.

“It’s a historic storm,” said Dr. Dave Sills with Northern Tornadoes Project in a 2023 interview with CTV News of the 1985 Barrie twister. “We haven’t had an F4 in Ontario since that time, so that tells you how rare these things are.”

The chaos didn’t stop with Barrie.

Shortly after 6 p.m., an EF2 tornado hit Wagner Lake near Uxbridge, and another tore through the village of Reaboro southeast of Lindsay. Around the same time, Ida and Rice Lake saw more tornado activity. Half-an-hour later, Minto, north of Trenton, was struck, and the final tornado was reported just after 8 p.m. near Grippen Lake, northeast of Kingston.

By nightfall, 12 were dead: eight in Barrie, including four children, two in Grand Valley, and two in Tottenham. More than 150 others were injured. Nearly 1,000 homes, farms, and businesses had been destroyed or badly damaged. Power lines were down, roads were impassable, and communities were left in shock.

Environment Canada later confirmed 14 tornadoes had touched down across the province that day, making it one of the worst tornado disasters in Canadian history.