Beginning as a tornadic waterspout over Lake Huron, the tornado ripped through the lakeside town of Goderich severely damaging the historic downtown and homes in the surrounding area.

Both Environment Canada in Toronto and the Storm Prediction Center in Oklahoma outlined the risk for non-severe thunderstorms that day across the lower Great Lakes.

Given the much colder air aloft (freezing levels near 700 hPa) coupled with surface heating there was the risk for small hail and gusty outflow winds, which was also mentioned.

Hail and heavy rain came down with a line of storms tracking from northwest of Kitchener toward the Brampton area early that afternoon.

With the powerful storm closing in on Goderich from the northwest at approximately 75 km/h, Environment Canada issued a tornado warning at 3:48 pm.

The relatively low casualty rate was attributed to the fact that an earlier thunderstorm had cleared downtown Goderich of hundreds of market-goers attending a weekend festival, most of whom were still outdoors as little as two hours before the tornado struck.

At this point, the only sign of the approaching tornado was a loud roar; some witnesses falsely interpreted it to be the engine from a nearby freighter (Cooper and Cove, 2011).

Moving on to land by 3:55 pm,[11][12] the tornado made its first destructive appearance at the Sifto Salt mine located on Indian Island at the mouth of the Maitland River.

[13] After crossing the river, the tornado tore more sheet metal from the upper portion of a nearby grain elevator before plowing up the bluff overlooking Lake Huron, in a swath several hundred metres wide.

This included the sturdy and relatively unscathed Huron County courthouse, which also suffered major interior damage (Cooper and Cove, 2011).

Vehicles parked in more open areas were subsequently overturned or impaled by flying debris, trees were removed of most of their limbs with sheet metal and other foreign objects wrapped around them.

Immediately surrounding the downtown, a church built in 1878 (see photograph to left) at the intersection of Kings Highway 21 and St. David Street was severely damaged.

Crossing Kings Highway 21, the tornado moved into the easternmost residential areas of Goderich, north of Elgin Street.

Now emerging from the rain curtains as a menacing, stovepipe-shaped funnel, and roughly following the Maitland River, the tornado's path widened.

The damage path also became more evident as it passed through open cornfields, downing large swaths of corn in an area about 200 metres wide.

Crossing Sharpes Creek Line (Huron Road 31) there was more tree and corn damage by the tornado, though it was becoming increasingly weaker and sporadic in nature.

In the hours after the disaster, the Ontario Provincial Police closed all roads leading into Goderich in order to allow streets to be cleared of debris, and to deal with the numerous gas leaks across the town of 8,000.

[16] In the days following the storm, as power was restored, roads became passable, and damaged structures shored up, local public works crews established fencing and concrete barriers around the entire perimeter of historic downtown Goderich to prevent looting and trespassing.

[19] The recovery process is ongoing, and will take many months or potentially years to fully complete, amid significant controversy regarding insurance settlements for private property owners.

[20] Early in 2012, this latter effort is expected to match the assistance issued by the province, owing to contributions from those all over Canada and the United States.

[25] Officials are now working on a plan to use the remaining fire department and Cold War air raid sirens for severe weather.