It’s highly unlikely you’ll get caught in a tornado — if you do the odds are 1 in 12 million it will kill you. The odds are higher that your old barn will get knocked down.

Every year there are cases of farmers across the province reporting damage to barns afte a tornado strikes. The mostly like time to hear about more tornados is now. The last week in May to the middle of July is tornado season.

June has been too cold and damp for much tornado action, says senior climatologist at Environment Canada David Phillips. "But stay tuned. When you get warm air, that’s when tornado season gets underway."

If you’d like a warning, here it is: beware of warm, moist sunny days followed in the afternoon by a thunderstorm, especially if you live close to Lake Ontario.

"You need something to push (up the hot air)–often it will be the lake breeze or a cold front that comes in from Michigan or the northwest that kicks it up and cold air undercuts it and all hell breaks loose," said Phillips.

The good news is that only one per cent of all thunderstorms across North America will generate a tornado. And unlike the movie Twister, don’t expect to see a cow fly through the air.

Canada is the second most tornado–prone country in the world. We report about 80 to 100 tornadoes a year but this is a big country so there are probably a lot more than that, Phillips said. The United States is the most tornado–prone country in the world reporting about 1,200 tornadoes a year.

While the odds of being killed in a tornado are low, even a a weak tornado – winds of up to 180 km/h —can turn a small stone into a lethal bullet, said Phillips. "It’s the debris that can kill you."

Ontario reports about 14 tornados a year. Tornado alley is between Windsor and Barrie. Eastern Ontario is less tornado prone, except for land near Lake Ontario.