BC Wildfire Service/Facebook
Environment Canada has released its annual list of the country's top ten weather stories, and a couple of B.C. stories made the cut.
The department named the summer's wildfires and smoky skies as the single biggest story of 2018. For residents of the Lower Mainland, they caused extremely poor air quality. In other parts of the province, however, people were forced to flee for their lives. In fact, more hectares of B.C. forests have burned this year than ever before.
“The science is clear: Climate change is real, and Canadians experience its impacts through more frequent and intense severe weather events," says Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
"Forest fires, floods, and extreme heat are having a human and economic cost for people across the country. With the hard work of our climatologists and other scientists, we can better protect our health, our homes, and our communities and drive momentum to tackle climate change.”
Another major weather story was the spring flooding throughout southern British Columbia. Roughly 2,700 people were ordered to evacuate their homes from flooding caused by extremely heavy snowpacks melting.
Top Ten Weather Stories of 2018
- Record wildfires and smoky skies
- Canada affected by global summer heat wave
- Hot and dry to snow-filled skies blunt the Prairie harvest
- Powerful May winds cost $1 billion
- Ottawa-Gatineau tornadoes on summer’s last day
- Spring flooding throughout southern British Columbia
- Flash flooding of the Saint John River
- Toronto’s August deluge
- Record cold start to a long winter
- A cruel, cold, and stormy April
The stories are ranked from one to ten based on factors that include the impact they had on Canada and Canadians, the extent of the affected area, economic effects, and longevity as a top news story.
With files from the Vancouver Courier.
