The year showed that heat can be a disaster and even more catastrophic than ever before thought possible. Canada was touched by 6 tropical storms, including Hurricane Larry in Newfoundland and Labrador, the longest-lasting Category 5 hurricane in Atlantic basin history. The unseasonably warm Atlantic Ocean waters led to another very active tropical storm season. For instance, this year Calgary saw 512 hours of smoke and haze, far exceeding the average of 12 hours per year. The smoke affected millions of Canadians for days and months. The wildfire season started early, burned later, and became bigger and hotter, igniting a near-record area of forests across Canada. The Prairies continued to be hot and dry as they have been for the past 2 or 3 years, with economic costs in the billions of dollars. Owing to the extraordinary early summer heat and drought, British Columbia suffered a tragic week of weather and from unbelievable fall-season rains and floods, likely the most destructive and expensive year to date. The province was dried out, scorched, flooded and inundated with mud, rock and debris flows.
British Columbia became ground zero for weather catastrophes. In 2021, Canadians witnessed the real threat and impact of climate change all around them and were shocked by the variety and frequency of weather extremes. Three decades of gradual but relentless warming have dramatically changed the geography in the North: fragile ice shelves are crumbling into the ocean, sea ice is thinning and shrinking, sea levels are rising slowly and ocean waters are becoming less salty, more acidic and warmer throughout. No place in the world has warmed more than Canada’s North. Canada’s excessive heat in early summer helped to make July the planet’s warmest month in more than a century and a half. They were more widespread, intense, frequent and impactful.Ĭanada continued to warm in 2021 for the 26th consecutive year, and was one of the warmest in 75 years. But the extremes were of a different nature than in the past. There was no new types of weather this year – our grandparents coped with the same rain, heat, floods, fires and drought. This was the year southern Canadians began seeing this firsthand. Climate change is leading to more frequent and more intense disasters around the world. Although we cannot attribute a single weather event to human-caused climate change, the evidence is conclusive - we are experiencing more intense and more frequent extreme weather. The year began with windstorms causing multi-million dollar damage across the West in early January, and ended with rain, windstorms and floods causing multi-billion dollars of damage in British Columbia.
PLANET COASTER THE GAME FREEZE AT THE END OF LOADING MODS
To receive a verified flair, message the mods with proof of purchase of either: VIP, CHC, Early Bird, or Founder Stone.Not in 26 years of releasing the Top 10 Weather Events has there been anything comparable to this year, where Canadians endured such a stream of weather extremes.