Video captures funnel-like cloud in Ottawa’s east end during storm

Viewer video captured a funnel-like cloud in Ottawa’s east end during a major thunderstorm on Saturday. (Kim Fleet/Provided)

A funnel-like cloud formation was spotted by residents in Ottawa’s east end during a severe thunderstorm Saturday afternoon.

Viewer video shows a cloud that appears to touch near the ground in the area of Aviation Parkway and Montreal Road at about 6:15 p.m.

Kim Fleet, the Ottawa resident who shot the video, said she received a severe thunderstorm warning alert on her phone and became fascinated by the weather outside her home.

“As I was watching it, I thought that’s starting to move and not in the direction that the storm was going and that’s when I caught it,” she told CTV News.

“The window kept getting covered in raindrops and then eventually, the clouds were moving towards me.”

Western University’s Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP) say in an email Saturday they had seen images of what may be a funnel cloud near Cumberland.

In an update Sunday, the NTP said the formation was the result of rising scud clouds, a type frequently mistaken as tornadoes that are harmless on their own.

“Following detailed analysis of photos, video and radar, the NTP determined that the culprit was rising scud clouds under a non-rotating storm lowering. Unless additional evidence is received, we will not investigate further,” the NTP said in a post to social media site Bluesky.

Scud clouds do not rotate, which differentiates them from funnel clouds or tornadoes.

A brief but powerful storm moved across Ottawa and eastern Ontario early in the evening. Environment Canada had warned of winds of up to 90 km/h, hail and heavy winds. A severe thunderstorm warning has since been lifted.

Some damage caused by falling branches and trees from the storm’s strong wind gusts was reported.

With files from CTV News Ottawa’s Natalie van Rooy