As the old Saskatchewan saying states “if you don’t like the weather, just wait five minutes,” and Canadians saw a lot of wild weather changes in 2024. Mother Nature appeared temperamental as she dropped tons of rain on BC, unseasonably cold on the prairies in the spring, and intense heat in July and August that led to the near destruction of one of Canada’s most beautiful communities.
Experts are claiming weather patterns have been getting more intense over the past several years which they believe is a result of climate change. Not only has extreme weather affected the activities of Canadians, it’s also caused a significant financial impact that will be felt for years to come. Four weather events alone caused nearly $8 billion in damages. While Canadians from coast to coast were affected by the weather, western Canada was hit the hardest over the past year due to heavy rain, hot and dry weather, and wildfires.
Environment Canada has released their list of the top weather events of 2024. Here are the five biggest weather stories according to Canada’s weather agency.
5: The intense Calgary hail storm of August 5th. Over a billion dollars in damages.
4: That atmospheric river that dumped over 256mm of rain on Coquitlam, BC, 203mm in west Vancouver, and 318mm of rain at Kennedy Lake on Vancouver Island.
3: The frigid January we experienced. Leader, SK Airport recorded a temperature of -46. Twenty-five new records were set in Saskatchewan and one all time record was broken. Experts in Alberta were warning people to conserve electricity during the cold snap as their grid was pushed to the extreme.
2: Ontario, Nova Scotia and Quebec dealing with the aftermath of Hurricanes Beryl and Debby. Parts saw over 200mm of rain fall.
1: The biggest weather story of the year involved the near destruction of Jasper, Alberta. Five thousand residents and 20,000 tourists were forced to flee the wildfires as they approached the townsite. 358 buildings in Jasper were lost to fire. In fact, the firestorm was so intense there were reports that it created its own thunderstorm.
Other major weather stories that Environment Canada noted were the wildfires of Newfoundland and Labrador, the huge winter storm that hit Cape Breton Island with over 100 centimeters of snow, and the floods of southern Ontario.
