The Team
CSSL Leadership
Greg Kopp
Dr. Greg Kopp is the ImpactWX Chair in Severe Storms Engineering, Director of the Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory and a professor in Western University’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He received a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Manitoba in 1989, a MEng from McMaster University in 1991 and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Toronto in 1995. His expertise and research relate to mitigating damage to structures during extreme wind storms such as tornadoes and hurricanes.
Dr. Kopp works actively to implement research findings into practice, currently serving as Chair of the ASCE 49 Standards Committee on Wind Tunnel Testing For Buildings and other Structures, and as a member of various other Building Code committees. A former Canada Research Chair in Wind Engineering, he is also the lead researcher for the Three Little Pigs Project at The Insurance Research Lab for Better Homes.
David Sills
Dr. David Sills is Director of the Northern Tornadoes Project. He received a BSc in Atmospheric Science and Certificate in Meteorology from York University in 1993, as well as a PhD in Atmospheric Science from York University in 1998. He worked for more than 20 years as a severe weather scientist with Environment Canada, and was awarded the CMOS Rube Hornstein Medal in Operational Meteorology for his research on Canadian tornadoes, storm nowcasting and mesoscale meteorology.
Dr. Sills also serves as Deputy Director of the Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory and is an adjunct professor with both Western’s Civil and Environmental Engineering Department and University of Manitoba’s Department of Environment & Geography. He serves as Associate Editor for the journal Atmosphere-Ocean and is a key member of the ASCE Wind Speed Estimation in Tornadoes Committee charged with developing the next generation of the EF scale.
Julian Brimelow
Dr. Julian Brimelow is the Director of the Northern Hail Project at Western. He holds adjunct professor positions in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Western, in the Department of Environment and Geography at the University of Manitoba, and in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Alberta. He graduated from the University of Pretoria (South Africa) with a BSc in meteorology in 1993, completed his MSc at the University of Alberta in 1999, and earned his PhD at the University of Manitoba in 2011.
Dr. Brimelow has more than 20 years of experience working as an expert in severe convective storms, most recently with Environment Canada. He has participated in multiple research programs and has published extensively in the peer-reviewed literature. He draws on specialized observational datasets and numerical modeling to advance our understanding of severe and extreme weather, with a focus on hailstorms and hail.
Connell Miller
Dr. Connell Miller is the Director of the new Northern Mesonet Project, and an adjunct professor in Western University’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He received a BESc in Civil Engineering from Western University in 2015, and a PhD in Civil Engineering from Western University in 2020. He is also the coordinator for the summer undergraduate internship program for the Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory. His expertise is in the field of remote sensing, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), instrumentation, and full-scale experiments.
Dr. Miller's current research is focused on alternative methods of estimating wind speeds in tornadoes such as the simulation of debris trajectories of vehicles; as well as alternative methods for detecting tornadoes through remote sensing tools such as vegetation indices and synthetic aperture radar.
CSSL Partner and Founding Supporter
ImpactWX
ImpactWX is a Toronto-based social impact fund that supports innovation through strategic partnerships, direct investments and charitable donations. Its mission is to enable organizations who, through scientific understanding and public awareness, work to improve people's response and safety during severe weather events. Initiatives are supported that:
- • build networks of collaboration across discplines and sectors,
• create opportunities for community engagement and learning,
• promote human-centred innovation and design, rapid prototyping and experimentation,
• translate research into practice and support learning through practice, and
• enable research and understanding that may not otherwise be possible.
The Northern Tornadoes Project was founded at Western University in 2017 with support from ImpactWX. And in 2024, Western University and ImpactWX launched the overarching Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory as founding partners, transforming severe thunderstorm research in Canada.
CSSL Staff
Lesley Elliott
Lesley Elliott (BSc [Hons] '04, Atmospheric Science, University of Alberta; MSc '06, Earth and Atmospheric Science, University of Alberta) is NTP's full-time research meteorologist. During tornado season, she can be found routinely checking radar data, satellite imagery and lightning maps, and tornado-related hashtags on social media. She creates most of NTP's tornado outlooks (daily during the peak season from June to August, and as needed during the remaining months) intended to prepare the ground survey team for possible action. Lesley also produces event maps for the team that contain social media reports, radar-based storm tracks, ground survey observations, damage tracks observed with satellite imagery, and flight plans for future high-resolution aerial imagery surveys. "I feel fortunate to be part of a group that is making sure that people are more aware of and better protected from tornadoes in Canada," she says.
Simon Eng
Simon Eng has combined degrees in civil engineering and meteorology, having made a career out of studying the impacts of climate and weather on the built environment. Since 2007, Simon’s work has focused primarily in the field of severe weather and climate change impacts and adaptation, in government, academic and private industry capacities.
Throughout his career, he has assisted in conducting numerous detailed climate and severe weather risk assessments of critical infrastructure. These duties include assessments and reviews of existing codes, standards and other guidance as they relate to the interaction of climate and weather with buildings and infrastructure, as well as the extraction, analysis and interpretation of climate and weather data and information. Through his roles as a research meteorologist, forecast assistant and researcher of historically significant weather events, Simon also has experience with primary climate and severe weather data collection, public outreach and other stakeholder engagement, including on-site forensic damage investigations immediately following severe weather events. Simon has held a lifelong passion for severe weather, with a particular focus on severe convective events, including tornadoes, damaging hail and convective windstorms.
Christoph Gatzen
Dr. Christoph Gatzen (PhD in Atmospheric Science, University of Cologne; MSc in Atmospheric Science, Free University of Berlin) is a research meteorologist leading NTP studies related to derechos and derecho climatology, particularly for Canada, by applying his expertise and knowledge in severe convective storm detection, assessment and investigation, the synthesis of historical data, as well as the application of statistical methods. He is also a member of NTP's rapid-response ground survey team. Dr. Gatzen will lead NTP/NHP internal severe storm outlook program starting in 2025, and oversee the development of a new meteorological training component.
Jack Hamilton
Jack Hamilton (B.IS [Hons], Aviation and Meteorology, Seneca Polytechnic) is the Field Coordinator with the NHP and a MESc student with Western Engineering.
As Field Coordinator, Jack manages the NHP field campaign, leading missions across the study area in southern Alberta from late May to mid-August. During fieldwork, the NHP field team collects hailstones from behind hail-producing storms and uses drones to capture data on the size and characteristics of hailswaths. Jack’s master’s work focuses on developing a Canadian hail climatology using ERA5 reanalysis and the HAILCAST numerical hail prediction model. Previously, Jack worked as an undergraduate researcher with the Northern Tornadoes Project.
Christopher Howlett
Dr. Christopher Howlett (BESc [Distinction] '16, PhD '26, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Western University) is a full-time research software engineer with the NMP. His research background involved leveraging computational fluid dynamics and specialized AI to optimize tall building aerodynamics. Throughout his career, he has worked on the development of complex data-driven design workflows, and he continues to apply those same computational strengths to synthesize multi-source data, helping Canadians better understand severe storm patterns. Chris is passionate about open-source development and believes in the power of transparent, accessible data to foster collective learning.
Aaron Jaffe
Aaron Jaffe (BESc [Distinction] '17, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Western University; MESc '20, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Western University) is a full-time wind impacts researcher with NTP and leader of the rapid-response ground survey team. His Master's research used model houses, wind tunnels, and computer simulations to predict internal pressures of houses in the midst of tornadoes. His study, one of the most comprehensive in his field so far, is helping engineers and home-builders construct stronger, more resilient houses. "We can't stop tornadoes, but we can better predict their impacts, and design stronger houses to protect against them," he says. Aaron conducts thorough analyses of storm-related wind damage documented by aerial surveys (aircraft or drone) and creates all of NTP's event summary maps.
Dylan Painchaud-Niemi
Dylan Painchaud-Niemi (BSc '20, Atmospheric Science, University of Manitoba) is a Research Meteorologist with NTP. He analyzes high-resolution satellite imagery following severe weather events across Canada to detect tree and crop damage caused by tornados and downbursts. Using his meteorological knowledge, he helps create both daily cross-Canada severe storm outlooks as a part of the forecasting team. Dylan also plays a key role collecting post-event severe weather data throughout the Prairies as a member of the rapid-response ground survey team based in Winnipeg, MB. He provides thorough ground and drone surveys with his team following severe weather events. Prior to joining NTP, Dylan was a research assistant at the University of Manitoba and co-authored two research publications examining winter storms on the Prairies and how that will change in the future.
Liz Sutherland
Liz Sutherland (BSc [Distinction] ’16, Geographic Information Science, Western University; MLIS ’23, Library and Information Science, Western University) is the GIS Research Scientist for NMP. In her role with the Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory, Liz provides GIS research leadership across CSSL projects, leading the development of geospatial workflows, data infrastructure, and tools for severe-storms research. She is particularly interested in applying GIS and geospatial technologies to advance research, improve data integration and visualization, and support the dissemination of research outputs.
Osmany Hernandez Cruz
Osmany Hernandez Cruz (BSc '16, Civil Engineering, University of Holguin; MSc '19, Civil Engineering, University of Havana; PhD '24, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Western University) is a Postdoctoral Fellow with Western Engineering. His research centres on simulating tornadoes and examining the aerodynamic effects on low-rise structures by integrating various numerical models. He also aims to extend his doctoral research to other severe weather events such as downbursts and derechos. This work is significant due to the complexity of the loading in these events.
Morgan Schneider
Dr. Morgan Schneider (PhD Meteorology '25, MSc Meteorology '21, BSc Meteorology '19, University of Oklahoma) is a Postdoctoral Associate with NTP, where her current research focus is on tornado outbreaks and damaging wind in severe linear storms. Using a combination of high-resolution simulations and archived radar data, she hopes to study the physical processes that cause damaging wind and tornadoes and improve prediction of tornado and severe weather outbreaks in Canada. Her past research experience includes using high-resolution simulations and mobile radar data to study severe storms in the Southeast USA, developing algorithms to improve tornado wind speed estimates, and leading field observations of tornadic storms.
Industry Partners
Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction
The Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR) is a world-class centre for multidisciplinary disaster prevention research and communication. ICLR is an independent, not-for-profit research institute founded by the insurance industry and affiliated with Western University. The Institute’s mission is to reduce the loss of life and property caused by severe weather and earthquakes through the identification and support of sustained actions that improve society’s capacity to adapt to, anticipate, mitigate, withstand and recover from natural disasters.
ICLR’s mandate is to confront the alarming increase in losses caused by natural disasters and to work to reduce disaster deaths, injuries and property damage. Disaster damage has been doubling every five to seven years since the 1960s, an alarming trend. The greatest tragedy is that many disaster losses are preventable. ICLR is committed to the development and communication of disaster prevention knowledge.
Academic Collaborators
John Hanesiak
Dr. John Hanesiak's collaboration with the Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory provides critical research and meteorological expertise for western Canada. He is a professor in University of Manitoba's Department of Environment and Geography. Dr. Hanesiak received a BSc in Physics and Mathematics from University of Winnipeg in 1990, a Certificate of Meteorology from York University in 1991, a MSc in Atmospheric Science from York University in 1994, and a PhD in Geography from University of Manitoba in 2001. Prior to joining the University of Manitoba in 2001, he was an operational meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada. Currently, he researches convection processes, severe/extreme weather and climate, storms, and surface-atmosphere interactions. He uses field measurements and numerical modelling to better understand the processes and interactions within these areas.
Jennifer Spinney
Dr. Jennifer Spinney’s collaboration with the Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory provides essential social science research and anthropological expertise. She is an Associate Professor with York University’s Disaster and Emergency Management Program and focuses her research on social interaction, risk and policy in the context of severe weather hazards and disasters. By drawing on qualitative research methods in her investigations, Spinney seeks to understand how people make meaning, assess and communicate risk, respond to uncertainty, and engage in protective action decision-making during tornadoes, floods and hurricanes. Dr. Spinney received an MA in Sociocultural Anthropology from Western University in 2010 and a PhD in Sociocultural Anthropology from Western University in 2019. Prior to joining York University in 2020, she was a post-doctoral scholar at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado - Boulder.
Jeremy Trombley
Dr. Jeremy Trombley works with the CSSL to examine the social dimensions of severe storms, particularly flash floods. He is an Assistant Professor in the department of Anthropology at Western University and his research uses an ethnographic approach to understand the intersection of scientific practices and environmental governance. He has worked in various regions of North America including the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and glacier watersheds in the Pacific Northwest. Prior to joining Western, he worked as an AAAS Science and Technology Postdoctoral Fellow at the International Joint Commission, and prior to that held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Oregon. He received his PhD in Anthropology from the University of Maryland.
Lisa Schielicke
Dr. Lisa Schielicke collaborates with the Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory to simulate past Canadian severe storms using high-resolution numerical weather models. She is an assistant professor at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Western University. Dr. Schielicke received a PhD in meteorology from the Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, in 2017. Prior to joining Western University in 2024, she worked as an interim professor in general meteorology at the University of Bonn, Germany. She is interested in all types of extreme weather from large-scale atmospheric blocking to small-scale tornadoes with the aim to better understand vortex development and interactions as well as their impacts at different scales.
Institutional Collaborators
Wind Engineering, Energy and Environment Research Institute
The Wind Engineering, Energy and Environment (WindEEE) Research Institute was established in 2011 as a clear recognition of novel opportunities in wind research at Western related to the emergence of the world first three-dimensional testing chamber, the WindEEE Research Facility, and the potential to promote innovative research and extensive collaborations nationally and internationally.
The Institute acts as an enabler of wind-related research and industry-academic partnership opportunities stemming from the wide range of unique capabilities at the facility. From complementing user expertise to matching commercial and academic funding, the institute aims to multiply the initial infrastructure investment and continuously expand the user group, both nationally and globally.
Meteorological Service of Canada / Science and Technology Branch
The CSSL has collaborative agreements with both ECCC’s Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC) and its Science and Technology Branch (SATB). The MSC is the authoritative source for weather forecasts and warnings across Canada, and develops and maintains monitoring systems such as the weather radar network and prediction systems such as numerical weather prediction models. SATB conducts research that contributes to understanding, detecting and predicting high-impact weather events. This is achieved via innovative observational technologies and techniques, laboratory work, field and aircraft campaigns, and space-based Earth observation.
Emergency Management Ontario
The Ministry of Emergency Preparedness and Response (MEPR) partners with the Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory’s Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP) to ensure communities across Ontario benefit from the latest severe weather research and data. This includes information exchange during storms with suspected tornado activity and detailed field and drone‑based impact assessments afterward. NTP contributes subject-matter expertise that supports MEPR’s planning, training, and public education efforts, strengthening community readiness across the province.
