Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips has released his top 10 Canadian weather stories of the year. Here is his list:
1. Spring Weather for the Olympic Winter Games
The Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) promised the XXI Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games would be the "greenest on record". Oh, were they right!
2. Vigorous Igor
Meteorologists foresaw an active hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean in 2010. As it happened, 19 named storms from Alex to Tomas formed in the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico – well above the long-term average of 11 and the third highest total on record.
3. From Dry to Drenched on the Prairies
Before the growing season started Western ranchers said they had never seen such a dry spring. In Camrose, Alberta a drought was declared before April and, across the Prairies, agricultural producers hoped and prayed for rain.
4. Canada's a "Hottie"!
If you were to stick a thermometer into Canada at any time this year, it was sure to say "well done". That the year began with the mildest winter on record was remarkable in its own right.
5. Storm for the Ages: "Flurries", Fury and Floods
Two weeks before Christmas, a massive and powerful storm crawled across the eastern half of North America inflicting death, destruction and extreme hardship on thousands of people. The intense system originated west of the Great Lakes, but its reach and misery were felt everywhere in the East.
6. Saskatchewan's Summer of Storms
From microbursts, hailers, twisters and gully washers to funnel clouds and plough winds, Saskatchewan experienced almost everything nature could possibly throw at it this summer. Residents seemed to be in a constant state of clean-up and worry about what would come next.
7. British Columbia Forest Fires... Costly and Smoky
The 2010 fire season across British Columbia was short but expensive. Given the dry winter and early spring, forecasters predicted a busy season. But once the spring rain started, it didn't stop until the province was well watered.
8. El NiIno Cancels Winter
For many Canadians winter 2010 never really happened. While parts of Asia, Europe and the United States shivered through and shovelled out of freak winter storms, Canada was left out of the cold.
9. Freak Canada-U.S. Over-Land "Weather Bomb"
For three days during the last week of October, a massive and powerful fall storm muscled its way across North America from the Dakotas to the Great Lakes and beyond. The unusual system fascinated meteorologists because its strength was similar to a Category 3 hurricane.
10. Canada's Most Expensive Hailstorm
Calgaryagain lived up to its reputation as the hailstorm capital of Canada. The Insurance Bureau of Canada sees hail as such a threat there that it operates a cloud-seeding program in order to diminish the size of hailstones falling over the city – a pea-size stone does much less damage than one the size of a golf ball.
