A sharp cold front associated with an upper level low struck Sault Ste. Marie around 2:30 p.m. Friday afternoon, causing trees to snap, power outages and damage to a trailer park east of town.
Photos circulating online from the Bell’s Point trailer park on the eastern edge of town show trees uprooted, some snapped and many landing on RVs and trailers. Several trailers sustained significant damage. Many campers had to leave their pitches.
Environment Canada reports wind gusts of 57 km/h in Sault Ste. Marie Airport at 3 p.m.
No wind warnings were issued at this time.
More than 600 PUC customers were without power for several hours in the P-Patch area. Most customers were reinstated by Friday evening.
The cold front quickly caused temperatures to drop by 2°C in a matter of minutes. Colder temperatures will settle in the region this evening, dropping to just below zero. The winds, mainly from the northwest, will eventually subside overnight.
The upper-level low allows colder air to rush over the land’s surface, causing a downdraft that can increase winds almost instantly as the cold front passes. Interestingly, the same upper low produced heavy snow showers and strong winds Thursday in northern Manitoba.
