Environment Canada announces top weather stories of the 20th century

Ottawa - February 23, 2000 - Environment Canada today announced the results from its top weather stories of the century poll. Canadians voted Canada's most severe ice storm in January 1998 as the most significant weather event, placing the Dustbowl of the 1930s second and the world's worst iceberg incident in 1912 involving the sinking of the Titanic third.

"The events chosen by Canadians underscores how weather influences our daily lives," said Environment Minister David Anderson. "These top three weather events remind us of the importance of continued national weather and climate research monitoring to ensure the quality of life and health for all Canadians."

The Minister noted that although extreme weather events have been observed throughout the last hundred years, the frequency and severity of storms, floods, droughts and other events has been having an increasingly costly impact on Canadians in the past two decades.

"We are experiencing the first symptoms of climate change caused by human influence on the environment," the Minister said. "Increased average temperatures across Canada and around the world, and increased severity of weather events are clear signs that the global community must act to meet the challenge of climate change."

To commemorate Canada's most significant weather events of the 20^th century, Canadians were asked to vote for their top three choices. Over the past three weeks, approximately three thousand Canadians logged on to Environment Canada's Green lane to cast their votes. Selections were compared with those of Canada's best known television weather personalities.

Over half of the top ten events selected by the broadcasters took place during the 1980s and 1990s. These included: the Ocean Ranger disaster of 1982, Edmonton's "Black Friday" tornado of 1987, the Saguenay flood of 1996, the Red River flood of spring 1997, the "Year-Long Heat Wave" of 1998 and the "Ice Storm of the Century" of 1998.

Although the rarity and severity of the event in terms of economic and human loss influenced their selections, the final results mirrored those chosen by the public.

Related documents:

• Top Weather Events of the 20th Century [backgrounder, 2000-02-23]
• Top Weather Events of the 20th Century [information collection]