Environment and Climate Change Canada have released their annual Top 10 Weather Stories list for 2020.
Senior Climatologist, David Phillips and Physical Science Specialist, Chantal McCartin compiled the biggest weather events in Canada for the calendar year. The top 3 featured 3 extremely costly weather events. Calgary, known as the hailstorm capital of Canada, topped the list with the billion dollar hailstorm on June 13th. The climate-induced wildfires in California and the American Northwest spread smoke northward into British Columbia and Alberta, forcing millions to face smoke-filled skies for nearly two weeks in September. Also, the Fort McMurray April flood caused over 520 million dollars in damage.
The top ten was rounded out by the endless hot summer in the East, St. John's Snowmageddon, the record hurricane season which Canada didn't avoid, the year's most powerful tornado which was an EF-3 on August 7 in southwestern Manitoba, the frigid spring helping Canadians self-isolate, fall in Canada – winter in the west and summer in the east and the August Long-Weekend Storms east and west.
