Witnesses reported watching as this F0 tornado touch down in the Beeton area without producing any notable damage. This was one of three tornadoes to touch down in South Central Ontario on July 17, 2000. One of the others, an F1 tornado at Melduf, destroyed a long track of forest just south of Georgian Bay. And the other, an F2 tornado that struck Guelph, tore through residential neighborhoods on the south side of the city, damaging hundreds of houses and causing millions in damage.
Figure 1 depicts the surface observations at 2:00 pm, which shows a cold front advancing toward southern Ontario. This eastward-moving front would have brought southerly winds blowing over Lake Erie and Lake Ontario across southern Ontario throughout the afternoon.
Ahead of the front, a very moist environment was present, with temperatures at 77F with a 63F dew point observed near Hamilton (Figure 1). As the cold front slowly moved east, strong forcing initiated thunderstorms across southwestern Ontario.
According to Environment and Climate Change Canada (2018), an F0 tornado touched down at 7:15 pm EDT near Beeton, ON. The path and width of the tornado was not documented by ECCC. The tornado caused no fatalities, injuries or property damage.
Sources
NWS Weather Prediction Center Surface Analysis Archive. (2017). Surface analysis 18Z Mon Jul 17 2000. Retrieved from: https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/archives/web_pages/sfc/sfc_archive.php
Environment and Climate Change Canada Data. (2018). Canadian National Tornado Database: Verified Events (1980-2009) – Public. Retrieved from: http://donnees.ec.gc.ca/data/weather/products/canadian-national-tornado-database-verified-events-1980-2009-public/
