INDEPTH: YEAR IN REVIEW 2003
Canada's top weather stories
CBC News Online | December 29, 2003
- B.C.'s "summer of fire" and its further trials by flood, heat
and drought. The hottest, driest summer on record in the southern
interior left forests tinder-dry and vulnerable to 2,500 wildfires,
including eight "interface" blazes where deep forests met populated
areas. Flooding washed out roads and bridges later in the year,
especially from one "pineapple express storm from Hawaii that dropped
almost monsoonal rains," said David Phillips, senior climatologist with Environment Canada.
»Okanagan Mountain fire threatens historic Kettle Valley
- "Hurricane Juan
and the Hurricane Juan-a-bees." Cool water temperatures off the Atlantic
coast usually act as a buffer to hurricanes and tropical storms, but the
sea was warmer this year, swelling the storms as they approached land.
The worst example was Hurricane Juan, a category 2 storm that "changed
the face of Halifax and Nova Scotia" when it made landfall on Sept. 29,
ripping up massive trees and blowing down barns and signs. About 70 per
cent of Nova Scotians lost power, as well as half the population of
Prince Edward Island.
Hurricane Juan slams into N.S.
- The long, cold winter that gripped Eastern Canada, lasting from Remembrance Day to Easter.
Temperatures dropped and stayed in the basement, giving snow resorts a
bumper year, but causing major damage to Niagara grape growers.
Cold weather cranks up electricity demands
- Wildfires that blazed from Ontario west to the
Okanagan, costing $1 billion to fight. Conditions were especially bad in
Alberta, where 1,000-degree flames liquefied trailers, and in Manitoba,
which suffered its third-worst forest fire season on
record.
Rain sparks hope of beating forest fires
- The seemingly endless drought on the Prairies.
Another year of scorching heat and moisture-sucking winds primed the
pump for trillions of grasshopper eggs to hatch. The multi-year drought
is the worst Canada has seen in 135 years, beating even the Depression
era Dust Bowl conditions.
Drought, grasshoppers add to western woes
- A stalled spring rainstorm that poured 80 to 120 millimetres of rain onto Atlantic Canada, just as rivers were swollen from spring runoff and higher than normal tides. For
Nova Scotia, this was the most expensive storm in its history, washing
out countless bridges and undermining highways throughout the province.
Flooding hitting parts of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick
- New Brunswick's Groundhog Day ice-rain storm. Worse
than the 1998 ice storm for this province, it loaded down trees and
buildings with up to 50 millimetres of freezing rain. In the Moncton
area, some of the 67,000 people left without power took refuge in
shelters. Buildings collapsed under the weight of ice and the sugar
maple industry took a major hit.
Damage from New Brunswick ice storm will top $4 million
- A near-record number of avalanches in the Rockies that killed three times the usual number of people as well as closing off roads for days in some parts of British Columbia. The El Nino effect led to freeze-thaw cycles that left the snow pack unstable.
Deaths mark worst year for fatalities in Glacier National Park
- "Whitewashers," or late spring storms that dumped huge amounts of snow in May and even June, when golf courses were opening and garden centres were bustling.
Alberta farmers welcome spring snow
- The ice jam at Badger, created when three central Newfoundland
rivers overflowed their banks just before five days of cold arctic air
hit the town. Residents had to be evacuated when the flash freeze
encased much of Badger in ice, and many were not able to return for
several weeks to face the devastation at their homes.
Rebuilding Badger will cost millions
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 2003 YEAR IN REVIEW |
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