Environment Canada confirms tornado hit near Thamesford on April 11

Barn damaged by a possible tornado near Thamesford Ont. on April 11, 2017. (Marek Sutherland/CTV)

Environment Canada has confirmed that a cell of thunderstorms on April 11 near London Ontario produced the first tornado of 2017 for Ontario and Canada.

A team of Western University investigators along with Environment Canada officials determined that wind gusts up to 150 km/h damaged a barn near Thamesford on April 11, 2017.

That corresponds to an EFf-1 rating under the Enhanced Fujita scale that measures the strengths of tornadoes.

Along with the barn, some hydro poles were also knocked down. The path of the tornado was roughly 11 kilometres long and 200 metres wide.

While it is slightly early for these types of supercell storms to strike southwestern Ontario, an EF-1 tornado was observed on March 16, 2016, in Clifford, Ont.