Environment Canada tracking thunderstorms heading for Windsor-Essex, Chatham-Kent

Environment Canada issued a Yellow Thunderstorm Warning for Windsor-Essex as of 6:17 p.m. on July 3, 2026. (Courtesy Environment Canada).

Environment Canada has upgraded its Thunderstorm Warning to Orange for Windsor-Essex as much of Southwestern Ontario is covered by various storm watches and heat alerts.

At 7:07 p.m. on Friday, the weather agency upgraded its warning to orange from yellow, indicating conditions are favourable for severe thunderstorms to develop and could bring about winds between 110 - 129 km/h as well as heavy rain and hail.

Rainfall amounts are estimated to possibly exceed 30 mm.

Meteorologists are tracking the line of storms from Pelee Island to Deerbrook, moving to the east at 65 km/h.

The impact is expected to be high, according to the weather agency’s grading scale.

American officials issued weather alerts in Monroe and Wayne County earlier in the evening.

Environment Canada says it issues severe thunderstorm warnings “when imminent or occurring thunderstorms are expected to produce damaging hail, wind or rain” and advises the public to monitor for updates.

The Yellow Thunderstorm Watch was issued at 4:16 p.m. on Friday, indicating an expected moderate level of impact. The Watch was upgrade to a Yellow Thunderstorm Warning for Windsor-Essex at 6:17 p.m.

Power outages have been reported across Windsor as well as in Michigan as the storm rolled through.

A Red Tornado Warning was issued for Chatham-Kent at 7:29 p.m., updating a previous Yellow Thunderstorm Watch that had been in place.

The agency’s colour-coded scale ranges from yellow to red, with red representing the most severe weather and yellow the least severe.

An Orange Heat Warning remains in place for both Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent.