Pine Lake tornado

The Pine Lake tornado.
Meteorological history
Formed	July 14, 2000 7:00 p.m.MDT
F3 tornado
on theFujita scale
Highest winds	200 mph (320 km/h)
Overall effects
Fatalities	12
Injuries	100+
Damage	$13 million (2000USD) ($21.4 million in 2023 dollars[1])
Areas affected	Green Acres Campground,Alberta,Canada
Part of thetornado outbreaks of 2000

ThePine Lake tornado was a deadlytornado in centralAlberta which occurred on Friday, July 14, 2000, and struck acampground and atrailer park. Twelve people were killed, making it the first deadly tornado inCanada since 1987, when anF4 tornado killed 27 people in Edmonton, Alberta and injured 300+.^[2]

On July 14, 2000, at approximately 7 PM, anF3 tornado tore through the Green Acres Campground atPine Lake in centralAlberta, killing 12 people and criticallyinjuring more than 100 others. Pine Lake is arecreational area approximately 25 km (16 mi) southeast ofRed Deer, Alberta and 150 km (93 mi) northeast of the city ofCalgary. The tornado formed out of asevere thunderstorm which formed on the eastern slopes of theCanadian Rockies and moved rapidly eastward, encountering a narrow band oflow-level moisture that caused it to develop into a supercell thunderstorm. It touched down about 5 km (3.1 mi) west of the campground and was on the ground for approximately 20 km (12 mi).

Damage occurred in a swath 800 to 1,500 metres (0.50 to 0.93 mi) wide. The heaviest damage occurred in a 500 metres (0.31 mi) central corridor. Damage assessment suggests that winds within the central corridor reached 300 kilometres per hour (190 mph). In addition, Weather Watchers reportedhail as large asbaseballs.

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

• 5:37 PMMountain Daylight Time (MDT) –Environment Canada issues asevere thunderstorm watch for the Red Deer area, includingPine Lake.
• 6:18 PM MDT – watch upgraded to asevere 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 ofrecreational 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 notifyEnvironment Canada that a tornado had just been reported at Pine Lake. The severe thunderstorm warning was immediately upgraded to atornado 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 forAlberta andSaskatchewan as the storm crossed theprovincial boundary.

• Lists of tornadoes and tornado outbreaks
  • List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks
  • List of Canadian tornadoes

• GOES Imagery of the Tornado
• GOES Animation

• Red Deer County
• Tornadoes of 2000
• F3, EF3 and IF3 tornadoes
• 2000 in Alberta
• July 2000 in Canada
• Natural disasters in Alberta
• Tornadoes in Canada
• 2000 disasters in Canada

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata