GRAND RIVER, P.E.I. (CP) — A few unusual phenomena have been reported after fierce thunderstorms in parts of the Maritimes this week, says an Environment Canada meteorologist.

Mike Campbell said the department is investigating reports of swirling vortices of air or downbursts creating crop circles in fields in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

“What we believe is a lot of air had rushed out of the thunderstorm, and when it hit the ground it swirled around,” he said.

“It just whipped up the crops and flattened them into circles.”

Derrick Blacquiere of Grand River, P.E.I., said he saw several funnel clouds create deep depressions in a neighbour’s wheat field, flattening grain into circular patterns up to six metres in diameter.

The severe weather on Thursday and Friday also uprooted hundreds of trees and damaged a number of buildings in Saint-Joseph-de-Madawaska, N.B.

A home in nearby St-Jacques in the northwestern part of the province had its roof blown off, as did a barn.

Environment Canada issued a tornado warning for the area, but meteorologists aren’t sure if the damage in St-Joseph-de-Madawaska was caused by a twister or a severe downburst.

The storms also briefly knocked out electricity to thousands of homes in both provinces.

Campbell said crop circles caused by sudden bursts of wind have been reported in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and in the Western provinces. The most recent was reported last year in Port Hillford on the eastern shore of Nova Scotia.

“On P.E.I., severe thunderstorms are rare, so when these sorts of things happen they’re unique and it causes a lot of disturbance and conversation,” he said.

• Story originally published by:
Canada.com - July 07.02

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