Pine Lake tornado

The Pine Lake tornado was a deadly tornado in central Alberta which occurred on Friday, July 14, 2000, and struck a campground and a trailer park. Twelve people were killed, making it the first deadly tornado in Canada since 1987, when an F4 tornado killed 27 people in Edmonton, Alberta and injured 300+.

Summary
On July 14, 2000, at approximately 7 PM, an F3 tornado tore through the Green Acres Campground at Pine Lake in central Alberta, killing 12 people and critically injuring more than 100 others. Pine Lake is a recreational area approximately 25 km southeast of Red Deer, Alberta and 150 km northeast of the city of Calgary. The tornado formed out of a severe thunderstorm which formed on the eastern slopes of the Canadian Rockies and moved rapidly eastward, encountering a narrow band of low-level moisture that caused it to develop into a supercell thunderstorm. It touched down about 5 km west of the campground and was on the ground for approximately 20 km.

Damage occurred in a swath 800 to 1500 m wide. The heaviest damage occurred in a 500 m central corridor. Damage assessment suggests that winds within the central corridor reached 300 km/h. In addition, Weather Watchers reported hail as large as baseballs.

An average of 16 tornadoes occur in Alberta every year, and an average of 41 tornadoes occur each year in the Prairie Provinces. The highest death toll due to a single tornado in Alberta occurred on July 31, 1987, colloquially referred to as Black Friday. Canada ranks second in the world for tornado occurrences after the United States.

Chronology

 * 5:37 PM Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) – Environment Canada issues a severe thunderstorm watch for the Red Deer area, including Pine Lake.
 * 6:18 PM MDT – watch upgraded to a severe thunderstorm warning, indicating that a thunderstorm with potentially large hail, very heavy rain, intense lightning and dangerous winds had developed.
 * 7:00 PM MDT – the tornado destroys a number of recreational vehicles in the Green Acres Campground on the western shore of Pine Lake. 12 people are killed and more than 100 critically injured.
 * 7:05 PM MDT – RCMP notify Environment Canada that a tornado had just been reported at Pine Lake. The severe thunderstorm warning was immediately upgraded to a tornado warning.
 * After 7:05 PM MDT – Warnings and watches were continued through the evening hours. In all, more than 40 watches and warnings were issued for Alberta and Saskatchewan as the storm crossed the provincial boundary.