Canada's Top Ten Weather Stories For 2006

[feepa]

Canada's Top Ten Weather Stories For 2006
http://www.msc-smc.ec.gc.ca/media/to...6/index_e.html

Media Advisory

Some provinces and territories seem to get more than their fair share of extreme weather events over the course of a year. In the last few years, Alberta has had that honour with a surplus of tough weather that included excessive rains leading to record flooding. In 2003, it was Nova Scotia with hurricanes, weather bombs and spring flooding. This year, British Columbia leads the pack as the #1 target for Mother Nature's wrath starting with a record number of wet days in January and moving along to a November that had it all - rain, rain and more rain, along with strong winds, huge snowfalls and bitter cold. Eventually the parade of high intensity rainstorms last month led to extensive flooding and dozens of landslides, prompting officials to issue a boil-water advisory for millions of people in the Lower Mainland. December hasn't been any better, with a trio of mid-month storms that damaged dozens of homes, closed major highways, toppled thousands of trees including century old trees in Vancouver's Stanley Park and left a quarter of a million people without power. Sandwiched in between was a BC summer where it wasn't too much weather that created problems but too little weather. In August, record dryness in one of the wettest places in Canada created difficulties for residents and tourists. Wildfires numbered 50 per cent more than normal and consumed double the usual area.

On the whole, Canadians had plenty to "weather" in 2006. We endured flash floods, weather bombs, big snowfalls and black ice. Powerful thunderstorms in Ontario and Quebec killed at least four people and left hundreds of thousands of customers without power for days, often more than once. On the Prairies, a record number of hail storms cost millions in property and crop losses and - for the first time in six years - there was a death from a tornado in Canada. While southerners seemed pleased over a balmy, comfortable winter, the unusually mild conditions created economic hardships for those dependent on winter ice roads.

The news wasn't all bad though! This year we were spared devastating hurricanes, severe drought and plagues. There were no summer blackouts, and we experienced less weather-related personal injuries and fatalities. For the tenth year in a row, it was warm - the second warmest on record. The year featured a nation-wide January thaw, and a summer of mostly comfortable weather. It was so pleasantly warm from January to September that many Canadians felt either guilty or concerned that somehow they were soon going to pay for the abundance of delightful weather.

The following Top Canadian Weather Stories for 2006 are rated from one to ten based on factors that include the degree to which Canada and Canadians were impacted, the extent of the area affected, economic effects and longevity as a top news story:

Top Ten Weather Stories for 2006
http://www.msc-smc.ec.gc.ca/media/to...ten2006_e.html

1. B.C. Weather Woes Part I: So Much Rain, So Little Water
2. B.C. Weather Woes Part II: A December to Remember
3. Big Blows in Central Canada
4. Goldilocks of Summers
5. Prairie Hailers and a Deadly Twister
6. Nation-wide January Heat Wave
7. Active and Lengthy Wildfire Season
8. Surprise and Relief - A Quiet Hurricane Season
9. BC's Long Wet and Long Dry
10. Election Weather Confounds Pundits

Runner-Up Weather Stories
http://www.msc-smc.ec.gc.ca/media/to...rup2006_e.html

• A Warming Canada
• Spring Flooding on the Red and Red Deer Rivers
• Freak Friday 13th Snowstorm
• A Winter Storm with Everything
• Glorious Fall: Damp, Dark and Depressing
• Early Winter - Most in the West and Least in the East
• West Nile Virus Flares Up
• A Spring Full of Wheezing and Sneezing

For the Record

• A selection of significant weather records set in Canada for 2006
• November was the wettest month on record in Victoria. Vancouver experienced its wettest January and wettest November on record, with November tying for the wettest month
• Winnipeg had its driest July and June-July on record
• Edmonton recorded its highest temperature in 70 years
• The Prairies witnessed a record number of hail events
• Winnipeg registered its warmest January on record
• Toronto had its "dullest" fall in 29 years
• Fredericton experienced a record number of July thunderstorms
• Montreal had its rainiest year on record
• Toronto's Pearson Airport registered its warmest night ever
• Yellowknife had its snowiest November ever
• Southern Ontario and Southern Quebec had the wettest fall on record and possibly the wettest year ever

Significant Regional Weather Stories
http://www.msc-smc.ec.gc.ca/media/to...nal2006_e.html

Atlantic Canada

• Storm-stayed in Labrador
• Ice Jam Threatens World-Famous Wooden Bridge
• Thin Ice Drowns Seal Pups
• Nor'easter Goes Digging
• Another Winter Blast on St. John's
• Sheila Brush Storm Arrives On Time
• Wet Easter Weekend
• New Brunswick's Tornadoes and Near-tornadoes
• Wet Summer Causes Problems on the Farm
• Taste of Summer in November

Quebec

• March of the Montreal Penguins
• Spring Showers Bring May Flooding
• Soggy May Delays Seeding
• Smog Grounds Planes and Buses
• Summer's Deadly Tempest
• Record Rains in Montreal - Two Years Running

Ontario

• Memories of the Infamous Ice Storm
• Non-Stop Snow
• Early Bout of Smog
• Leaving Town - Again!
• Wiarton Willie's Last Call
• Deadly Lightning
• Hot Summer Nights In The City
• Unusual Great Lakes Water Levels
• Snow Only for London

Prairie Provinces

• Snowplow Drivers MIA
• Early Alberta Heat Wave
• June Flooding All Over Again
• Rare Power Failure in Calgary
• Raining Glass on Winnipeg
• Manitoba Twister
• Early Harvest and Surprisingly Good Yields

British Columbia

• With Every Storm Comes Power Outages
• BC Ferry Goes Under
• Spring Flooding in the Kootenays
• Smog in Beautiful British Columbia
• Triple Hail Days
• Torrential Rains Even For the Wet Coast

The North

• Too Hot for Cold Testing
• Rescuing the Mushers
• February Thaw - Not Nice
• Record Late Snow in the Yukon
• Early Beginning to Winter

[SHOFEAR]

Edmonton recorded its highest temperature in 70 years

and I was outside sitting in bleachers during the grand prix for three days straight during that heat wave....

[vid]

Ontario

* Memories of the Infamous Ice Storm
* Non-Stop Snow
* Early Bout of Smog
* Leaving Town - Again!
* Wiarton Willie's Last Call
* Deadly Lightning
* Hot Summer Nights In The City
* Unusual Great Lakes Water Levels
* Snow Only for London

What about the 1500+ forest fires in the north that displaced more than 10,000 people?? Or the ongoing drought that has completely devastated our agriculture industry??

Though I agree with the list. Sucks to live in BC right now, eh? (Weather wise)

[Taller Better]

A few years ago my friend in Edmonton sent me pictures of that almost winter like July storm that flooded underpasses, etc... with what looked like great chunks of ice floating on the water ( I guess from hail). THAT was a newstory and a half!

[SHOFEAR]

Originally Posted by Taller Better

A few years ago my friend in Edmonton sent me pictures of that almost winter like July storm that flooded underpasses, etc... with what looked like great chunks of ice floating on the water ( I guess from hail). THAT was a newstory and a half!

http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgur...D%26safe%3Doff

[feepa]

During the first week of July, two slow-moving weather systems soaked Edmonton. That paved the way for a storm the next week that was to become the province's worst over-land flooding event in history. Rains on July 2 and 3 exceeded 50 mm in places, with most falling in just a short time. Four days later, another cold summer storm dropped an equal amount of rain on an already sodden city. Then, in mid-afternoon on July 11, the atmosphere unleashed the biggest deluge and hailer ever seen in the Alberta capital. The storm, which began over southwestern British Columbia, intensified as it moved into central Alberta. It even spawned a couple of tornadoes north and east of the city. At its worst, the small but spectacular storm dumped more than 150 mm of rain in the southern and western parts of Edmonton in less than an hour (as detected by radar), likely making it the wettest moment in the city's history. With all that rain, flooding seemed inevitable but it was actually the golf ball-sized hail that clogged city storm sewer drains with ice, leaves and broken branches. Icy drifts lined city streets and turned backyards into snowbanks. Snowplows had to be called out to remove the piles of hail 6 cm deep.

The city's super-saturated clay soil and beleaguered sewer system could not take any more water. Mud and water poured down streets and through windows. The record flash flood, estimated to be a 1-in-200 year event, washed out roads, filled underpasses, and flooded basements to the rafters. Rising water made instant rivers out of streets and turned countless intersections into lakes as water lapped up to the door handles of many vehicles. The enormous water pressure blew hundreds of manhole covers sky high and pinned several trees to the ground.

Of special interest, the pounding storm ripped holes in the roof of the West Edmonton Mall's indoor amusement and ice rink, sending water cascading to the floor. For the first time in its history, officials evacuated the entire 800-store complex at Canada's largest shopping centre. Remarkably, there was no loss of life, yet there were countless close calls. Insurers paid out close to $160 million in over 12,000 claims. For the rest of the city, uninsurable damage to residences and small businesses, and infrastructure losses to roads and bridges were pegged at an additional $16 million. For many water-weary Edmontonians, it was the second or third time in less than 10 days they had to deal with nature's wrath.

[Taller Better]

I still cannot believe my eyes.... can you imagine, in July? No one would ever have believed it before it happened....

[feepa]

Originally Posted by Taller Better

I still cannot believe my eyes.... can you imagine, in July? No one would ever have believed it before it happened....

Thats not snow, thats hail. It was a really hot and humid few weeks surrounding that.

[djp]

Notice how B.C. gets two big weather stories - soaking rains and summer drought? Even though the winter storms may be more spectacular, mark my words that over the next decade or so, the latter (summer drought) will prove to be far more problematic. The lack of drinking water in Tofino and the big forest fire seasons have been just a taste of what's to come...

[vid]

Drought is absolutely terrible. I haven't been able to eat a fresh blueberry or raspberry in over a year now.

[renthefinn]

Originally Posted by vid

What about the 1500+ forest fires in the north that displaced more than 10,000 people?? Or the ongoing drought that has completely devastated our agriculture industry??

Though I agree with the list. Sucks to live in BC right now, eh? (Weather wise)

It was pretty bad this year over here, but nothing unbearable, not too bad really living in the city. Compared to my two years living in TB, I still like the weather here better, now if my car had been crushed by a tree, I'd take the TB weather any day!

[SteelTown]

For Hamilton or mostly Southern Ontario it had to be the all the flood we got this year. I know in Hamilton there must have been about 3 floods alone this year. It seems like it just doesn't rain normal anymore it just pours with heavy rain.

Here are a few pictures of a flood that happened December 1 in Hamilton