‘Canada’s shawarma capital’ turns to its signature wrap to explain storm risks

Picturing the process of making a tasty hot shawarma is one way for people to think through what some kinds of weather alerts mean. (Rachelle Elsiufi/CBC)

When Environment Canada issued severe thunderstorm watches and warnings for Ottawa last week, the city decided to slice a tasty explainer off the metaphorical spit.

A breakdown on some of its social media feeds used shawarma ingredients to lay out what a watch means for dangerous weather such as thunderstorms and tornadoes.

A prepared, ready-to-go shawarma represents a weather warning.

“We know our shawarma, but weather alerts can be confusing, so let’s talk about the difference between a ‘watch’ and a ‘warning,'” said the post, seen tens of thousands of times on X and shared hundreds of times on Facebook .

“Remember: a ‘watch’ means we have all the ingredients for a storm. A ‘warning’ means the storm is assembled and ready.”

To put it in Environment Canada’s words, watches as “when conditions are favorable for the development of” these kinds of storms, then warnings come when there’s evidence from radar, a reliable spotter or possibly satellite imagery that a severe thunderstorm or tornado is happening or about to happen.

Storms near Ottawa that day did produce a damaging EF1 tornado near Perth with wind speeds up to 150 kilometers per hour.

Shawarma declaration in spring

A city communications strategist said in an email the post was a “collective effort inspired by the April 3 motion at City Council declaring Ottawa as the Shawarma Capital of Canada,” and meant to generate likes, comments and shares to spread an important message.

This kind of food metaphor might feel new to some, but like déjà vu to others.

The city said that it was indeed “inspired by other agencies that have used food metaphors, including tacos and poutine, to explain this distinction.”

Ottawa’s post still managed to gain a lot of traction, with many comments jokingly highlighting the lack of pickled turnips.

The City responded to this, saying that it does in fact regret the omission.