Actually, Canada does get hurricanes. More often than not, however, we get a weaker version of what was once a much stronger storm over southern locations. As a hurricane weakens, it is often downgraded to a tropical storm or in some cases downgraded directly to a post-tropical storm. A tropical storm, as its name implies, still has characteristics of a tropical nature as well as average wind speeds between 63 and 117 kilometres per hour (km/h). A post-tropical storm is one that is losing or has lost its tropical characteristics.
Some storms, however, do remain as hurricanes, with winds greater than 118 km/h, as they reach Canada and a great majority of these make landfall in Atlantic Canada. There have been cases where hurricanes or tropical stormsor the remnants of themhave reached Quebec or Ontario, however, these are few and far between. Once a hurricane makes landfall, it weakens rapidly and consequently, the chances of one reaching these neighbouring provinces are small.
The last hurricane to make landfall in Canada was Hurricane Gustav on September 12, 2002. Prior to that Hurricane Michael went ashore over southern Newfoundland on October 19, 2000. Only two other hurricanes have made landfall in Canada since 1995: Hurricane Luis which struck Newfoundland September 11, 1995, and Hurricane Hortense which hit eastern Nova Scotia in the early morning hours of September 15, 1996. It had been 21 years since a hurricane last hit Nova Scotia (Hurricane Blanche 1975.)
It is worthwhile to note that more often than not a tropical storm affects Canada as opposed to a hurricane. Also, tropical storms or hurricanes may very well affect Canada without making landfall.
In Atlantic Canada's "response zone"the coastal region north of Virginia to Newfoundlandthe average annual number of named storms has been 3.3 over the past 100 years, 4.2 over the past 50 years, 4.4 over the past decade, and 5.7 over the past seven years. Over the last three years, the zone has seen six named storms per year, many of which have caused flooding in parts of Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
What climate is associated with hurricanes?
The climate of hurricanes is normally that of the lower latitudes. Hurricanes form over water, and in order to do so, certain conditions must exist: the water temperature must be at least 26.5 C, the atmosphere must be unsettled (or as we say unstable), winds at all levels in the atmosphere must have the same speed and direction and the storm must be no closer than approximately 500 kilometres to the equator.
As for the "climate" near or within a hurricane...one can expect very strong winds in excess of 118 km/h, heavy rain, thunderstorms and possibly tornados. This is of course outside of the "eye" within which one usually finds little, if any, of these conditions.
For more information on hurricanes and other related storms, please visit the Canadian Hurricane Centre's Web site.
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