David Phillips, Environment Canada’s chief meteorologist, has compiled his list of top weather stories for this year. He says it’s getting harder to confine his list to 10 events because the weather has changed so much across the country. Here’s what he chose for 2019:
1. Record-setting Ottawa River flood for second time in three years.
2. Active hurricane season further south leads to destructive storms in Atlantic Canada.
3. No-good Prairie fall as Calgary and Winnipeg get hit by early and heavy snowstorms.
4. A brutally cold February across the country.
5. Record summer heat in the Arctic.
6. On the Prairies: Too dry early on; too wet (snow and rain) later.
7. Torrential rain forces some Quebec municipalities to postpone Halloween by a day.
8. Spring missing from Alberta through to Atlantic Canada. Ontario farmers face one of the latest starts to planting season.
9. Wet April weather causes Saint John River to flood again in New Brunswick.
10. Fewer fires, more burning. A reprieve of about 40 per cent from 2018’s record number of forest fires, but amount of land charred only decreases by one-fifth.
(Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada)
The Canadian Press
The Canadian Press
