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2000 Pine Lake tornado
A tornado is the stuff of nightmares. Amid heavy rain and hail, huge thunderclouds roll in and the skies turn greenish-black. And then a rope-like funnel cloud punches down, smashing everything in its path. Tornadoes can be the most violent storms on earth, and Canada averages 80 of them each year. From scientists and storm chasers obsessed with their destructive power to the victims left in a twister's wake, we look at Canada's deadliest tornadoes of the past century.
. The Pine Lake tornado formed when a severe thunderstorm moved across the province from the Alberta foothills, and met a band of low-level moisture. A vortex formed and touched down on the west side of the lake near the Green Acres campground around 7:00 p.m.
. The tornado skipped eastward across the lake and tore up a 20-kilometre swath, destroying houses and farms before dying out. It was classed as an F3 tornado, with winds of up to 300 km/h, lasting about thirty minutes.
. It destroyed 400 camping sites at the Green Acres campground, hurling dozens of mobile homes into the lake and smashing others. Twelve people were killed and 140 injured. The estimated damage was around $15 million.
. Environment Canada issued a severe thunderstorm watch at 5:37 p.m., and a severe thunderstorm warning - including a reminder that these storms sometimes produce tornadoes - at 6:18 p.m. (about an hour before the tornado struck). There is a weather radio transmitter near Red Deer, but it seems nobody at Pine Lake was listening to weather broadcasts at the time.
. Environment Canada's "Weatheradio" is a 24-hour weather service broadcasting on the VHF-FM radio band, with transmitters located across Canada. Weatheradio receivers can be purchased from electronics stores, and often include an alert feature that beeps, flashes or turns on when a severe weather warning is issued. They cost between $30 and $300. In some places their broadcasts are transmitted on regular AM/FM radio and can be heard without a special receiver. Environment Canada's advisories are also sent to the media.
. "When people are out at the lake, when they're out at a campground and they're barbecuing, we can issue all the warnings and watches we want, nobody's listening to the radio, nobody's watching television," said Heather Hamilton of Environment Canada after the Pine Lake tornado. "If you're going to be out in a vulnerable spot you should have a weather radio," she said.
Program: Sunday Report
Broadcast Date: July 16, 2000
Guest(s): Tom Adams, Terry Adams, Danny Fisher, Kelly Heath, Sandy Stevens
Host: Alison Smith
Reporter: Jo Lynn Sheane
Duration: 4:54
Last updated: June 28, 2012
Page consulted on August 21, 2012
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