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Issue 61
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Weather Trivia ![]() |
Canada's Top Ten Weather Stories for 2005 |
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The tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia and east Africa topped the news headlines at the beginning of 2005. Caused by a magnitude 9 earthquake, the tsunami left hundreds of thousands of people dead and destroyed homes, schools and livelihoods in more than a dozen countries. This past August, thousands more were left homeless in the United States due to hurricane Katrina. Then there was everything in between. The year's relentless, unstoppable weather extremes wreaked havoc around the world, including: the driest year in decades across the Amazon rainforest; a record drought in southeastern Australia; weather striking Europe with a vengeance, with eastern sections under water and searing heat and wildfires in the south; weeks of torrential rains and floods in south China, while droughts plagued the north; and in India and Pakistan, deadly heat followed by flooding monsoons. |
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Globally, it was the second warmest year on record over the past 145 years, according to the World Meteorological Organization the costliest, with record losses from weather-related disasters around the world totalling $200 billion. Ominously, we also saw a record shrinkage of ice cover on the Arctic sea with possible disappearance in sight. David Phillips, Senior Climatologist at Environment Canada never has trouble finding Canadian weather tales at the end of each year. Canada is a country of weather extremes. And so with 2005 we again have tales of heat, floods, storms and snow, some of which were so extreme that many scientists believe that climate change is a factor. But, even with these long tales of unusual weather, we Canadians are feeling luckier than many outside of our borders after this year of weather headlines from around the world. From Rain to FloodThis was the wettest year ever in Canada, with rain, rain and more rain dominating the weather news from coast to coast. In mid-January, following a two-week blast of wintry weather across BC's Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island, a persistent flow of record warm, moist air dubbed the "Tropical Punch" engulfed southwestern British Columbia. Temperatures soared to record levels. Abbotsford reached a balmy 18.1 °C on the 19th, the highest January temperature recorded anywhere in the province since 1899. The system soaked the BC coast with record rain. The week-long rains washed out bridges and highways, caused mud slides and forced hundreds to flee mud-filled homes. Several Nova Scotia communities experienced their driest summer on record in 2005. But before the dryness, they had to endure their wettest spring ever. At Halifax, spring rainfall from March to May inclusive totalled a record 589.4 mm some 225 mm greater than normal. Of the total, more than half fell in May, drowning the previous record of 230.1 mm set in 1971. Once again, Alberta owned the year's number one weather story with record June rains and ensuing floods that became the province's costliest disaster ever. Three major storms about 10 days apart drenched the region, generating record high water levels. Floodwaters forced residents out of their homes, washed out roads and parks, destroyed sewers, bridges and other infrastructure, wrecked buildings and drowned livestock. Some of those same summer storms then rolled into Manitoba and triggered the worst summer flooding in that province's history. Summer thunderstorms were widespread, intense and frequent, arriving in bands 20 minutes apart that often tracked across the same ground. Waterways recorded their highest summer flows on record. Parts of paved highways were under water for days on end. And some of the best farmland in Canada was too soggy to farm. |
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