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Dr. David Sills, PhD

Anchor 1
Professional ​
Overview
Deputy Director - Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory
Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Western University, London, ON​​

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Research Interests

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  • Developing severe convective storm climatologies, particularly for tornadoes

  • Contributing to advanced severe thunderstorm detection and nowcasting
Director - Northern Tornadoes Project
Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory
Western University, London, ON​​

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Research Interests

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  • Leading the team that detects, assesses and documents tornadoes and other thunderstorm-related wind phenomena across Canada

  • Contributing to advanced damage detection and wind speed estimation

Research and Projects

Contribute to the protection of the lives and property of Canadians against severe and extreme convective storms

  • Investigate tornadoes, derechos and downbursts across Canada as well as their climatologies and long-term trends

  • Study extreme winds generated by wildfires and thunderstorm-related flash flooding

 

Professional activities / interests

  • Supervise and serve on defence committees for graduate students: Western University, York University, University of Manitoba, McMaster University, Queensland University (Australia)

  • Serve as co-chair, co-lead the scientific program committee and convene sessions for scientific conferences such as the 2027 CMOS Congress and the 2025 AMS International Conference on Radar Meteorology

  • Serve on international committees such as the ASCE Tornado Wind Speed Estimation (EF scale) Standards Committee (continuing) and the WMO Nowcasting and Mesoscale Research Working Group (past)

  • Serve as Associate Editor for the scientific journals Atmosphere-Ocean (continuing) and Monthly Weather Review (past)

  • Provide scientific reviews of journal manuscripts (e.g. Bulletin of the AMS, Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Journal of Climatology, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics)

  • Transfer of science knowledge to meteorologists, engineers and emergency managers through dynamic presentations
     

Key Publications
  • Sills, D. M. L., L. Elliott, A. L. Jaffe, C. S. Miller, J. Kunkel, E. Sutherland, M. Somers, B. Rousseau and P. McCarthy, 2026: An updated national tornado climatology for Canada. Atmos.-Ocean, in press, DOI 10.1080/07055900.2026.2668542.
  • Sills, D. M. L and L. Elliott, 2023: Assessment of Tornado Alerting Performance for Canada. Atmos.-Ocean, DOI 10.1080/07055900.2023.2257163.
  • Sills, D. M. L., C. S. Durfy, and C. P. E. de Souza, 2022: Are Significant Tornadoes Occurring Later in the Year in Southern Ontario? Geophysical Research Letters, 49, e2021GL096483, DOI 10.1029/2021GL096483.
  • Sills, D. M. L., G. A. Kopp, L. Elliott, A. Jaffe, E. Sutherland, C. Miller, J. Kunkel, E. Hong, S. Stevenson, and W. Wang, 2020: The Northern Tornadoes Project - uncovering Canada’s true tornado climatology. Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc., DOI 10.1175/BAMS-D-20-0012.1.
  • Sills, D. M. L., and P. I. Joe, 2019: A short history of severe thunderstorm research and forecasting in Canada. Atmos.-Ocean, DOI 10.1080/07055900.2019.1673145.
  • Sills, D. M. L., J. R. Brook, I. Levy, P. A. Makar, J. Zhang, and P. A. Taylor, 2011: Lake breezes in the southern Great Lakes region and their influence during BAQS-Met 2007. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 11, 7955-7973, DOI 10.5194/acp-11-7955-2011.
Current
Projects
Education

  • Ph.D. Atmospheric Science, York University, 1998

  • Cerificate in Meteorology, York University, 1993

  • B.Sc. Atmospheric Science, York University, 1993
     

Awards

  • Western University Annual Newsmakers of the Year Award, 2020-2025

  • CMOS Rube Hornstein Medal in Operational Meteorology, 2017

  • Geoff Howell Citation of Excellence for Innovation, 2016

Education
& Awards
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