Environment and Climate Change Canada recently released its top 10 list of the most note-worthy weather events of 2024. The year “shattered records,” says ECCC, and not in a good way: it was Canada’s most costly year for weather disasters, thanks to the destruction unleashed by floods, hail, extreme temperatures, and wildfires. Severe weather in July and August alone cost insurance companies more than $7.7 billion in damages. On that (grim) note, here’s what made the government’s annual top 10 list.
No. 1 Heatwaves and wildfires in Jasper
ICYMI, it was a hot summer in Jasper National Park. By July 21, the mercury hit 38 °C, and powerful thunderstorms rolled in on July 22, sending lightning bolts flashing. The first wildfire was spotted late that afternoon, and before 10 p.m. the entire park was forced to evacuate. The next day the southern fire surged in size, and by late afternoon on July 24, winds sent the fire racing towards the townsite. “Showers of flaming debris were scattered across the town as toxic smoke filled the air,” says ECCC. “While 12 millimetres of rain finally fell the next day, it was too little too late. A charred landscape of blackened sticks was all that remained of the forests that stood to the south and east of the town only a day earlier.” By July 25, the two fires merged. “The wildfire claimed 358 of the town’s 1,113 structures, including many homes, the iconic Maligne Lodge, and a nearly 100-year-old church,” says the ECCC. “By the time the Jasper Wildfire Complex was finally declared under control on September 7, it had consumed 32,722 hectares of forest in Jasper National Park, an area spanning wider than the island of Malta.”
No. 2 Hurricane season targets central Canada
It’s usually the Atlantic provinces that are hardest hit by tropical cyclones. This year, central Canada felt the worst impact. “On July 2, [Hurricane] Beryl became the first ever Atlantic hurricane to attain a Category 5 intensity so early in the season, packing sustained winds of up to 270 km/h as it moved westward into the Caribbean Sea near Grenada,” says ECCC. Then, the “remnant storm” reached Quebec by July 10, unleashing torrential rain—50 to 100 mm in a few hours—and flash flooding. Beryl’s remains moved into the Maritimes the next, where the Annapolis Valley was hit hardest with rain, up to 130 mm in a few hours. A month later, Tropical Storm Debby caused another round of downpours—and flooding—in Ontario and Quebec. For the latter province, it was the costliest disaster in history: $2.5 billion in damages.
The top 10 Canadian weather events of 2023
No. 3 A deep freeze in western Canada
In mid-January, temperatures plummeted to the minus 40s in Canada’s three westernmost provinces; between January 11 and 15, more than 60 daily minimum temperature records were broken in B.C. Meanwhile, “Alberta saw about 125 daily minimum temperature records, including eight all-time cold records, broken between January 10 and 17,” says ECCC. “Saskatchewan saw nearly 25 daily minimum records and one all-time cold record broken.” Ski resorts closed, schools cancelled classes, “and in Siksika Nation, a State of Local Emergency was issued when a gas service outage left residents of more than 50 homes unable to use their furnaces.” The extreme cold cost roughly $180 million in insured losses, mostly from burst pipes.
No. 4 B.C.’s two destruction-level “atmospheric rivers”
According to ECCC, about 30 to 40 atmospheric rivers—long flows of moisture-heavy air—reach coastal B.C. every year. When they’re strong, long-lasting, or occur in succession, “their effects can become more hazardous than beneficial, triggering dangerous flooding.” In 2024, B.C. got walloped with two: one, Jan. 26 to Feb. 1, and another, Oct. 18 to 20. Both caused flooding, landslides, and road washouts throughout the province.
No. 5 Calgary’s costly hailstones
Calgary is considered the Hail Capital of Canada. So, perhaps it’s no surprise that the area was hit with a devastating hailstorm in August of this year. “On the evening of August 5, two intense, rotating thunderstorms erupted along the southern Alberta foothills and moved southeast toward the Calgary region,” reports ECCC. “The southern storm dropped baseball-sized hail as it plowed through rural lands southeast of the city, while the northern storm battered thousands of homes and vehicles across Calgary’s northern suburbs.” Wind shot chunks of hail sideways with enough force to punch through vinyl siding. Egg-sized balls flew through windows and roofs and destroyed parked cars. At the Calgary International Airport, flights were cancelled and planes grounded for weeks. “In total, the storm caused nearly $2.8 billion in damage, according to estimates from Catastrophe Indices and Quantification,” says ECCC. Ka-ching! “This ranks as the costliest hailstorm in Canadian history and the second-costliest weather disaster overall.”
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No. 6 Summer floods in Ontario
Between July 15 and 16, multiple thunderstorms hit the southern part of the province. “In less than four hours, 50 to 60 millimetres of rain doused the London area, flooding roads and basements, and closing a stretch of Highway 402 west of the city,” reports ECCC. In the east, more than 60 mm of rain fell over the course of six hours in the Hamilton and Burlington areas; in downtown Toronto, 25 mm fell in under one hour, flooding subway stations. That was July 15th. The next morning, the Greater Toronto Area was walloped with another round of storms. Since the ground was already saturated, the water had nowhere to go. Multi-lane freeways flooded; people were stranded in their cars and trapped in elevators. Nearly 300,000 homes and buildings lost power. Weeks later, in August, another low-pressure system brought more severe flooding to the region. “Toronto Pearson International Airport received a record-breaking 128.3 millimetres of rain in a single day,” says ECCC. The combined cost of flood damage was more than $1 billion for the year.
No. 7 Things get strangely hot in the Arctic
An Arctic heatwave? It’s not common, but it does happen—and it happened in 2024. During the first week of August, intense heat spread across parts of Canada’s north. Temperatures climbed well above 30°C across in most of the Northwest Territories. Between August 6th and 8th, the mercury rose above 30 °C in Inuvik (that’s 10°C above normal). “On August 7, the town recorded its highest temperature of all time at 34.8 °C,” says ECCC. Meanwhile, other towns north of the Arctic Circle also experienced record-breaking heat.
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No. 8 Cape Breton gets a winter smackdown
Winter storms are common for Cape Bretoners, but 2024’s early February wallop was an entirely different beast. In Sydney, N.S., the snow started on Groundhog Day…and just didn’t stop. “Between Friday, February 2 and Monday, February 5, a total of over 100 centimetres was reported in downtown Sydney, with 97.1 centimetres recorded at the airport,” says ECCC. Streets were buried, and people had to tunnel out of their homes. Even snowplows were getting stuck. On February 4, the Cape Breton Regional Municipality declared a State of Emergency. “The storm’s impacts were not limited to Cape Breton; heavy snow blanketed much of central and eastern Nova Scotia, along with eastern Prince Edward Island, with 40 to 65 centimetres accumulating across most of the region,” says ECCC. This 2024 winter storm was the worst since February 2004’s “White Juan.”
No. 9 The summer of split personality: smokin’ hot in Atlantic Canada, frosty in Alberta
When the third week of June rolled around, in the Maritimes, “a crescendo of hot, humid weather peaked between June 18 and 20, setting numerous daily, monthly, and all-time high temperature records,” says ECCC. On June 19, the highest temperature of the day was recorded in Bathurst, N.B.: 37.6°C. “This was not only the station’s highest temperature on record, dating back to 1872, but also the highest temperature ever recorded in New Brunswick and anywhere in the Maritimes for the month of June,” says ECCC. The next day, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador also set all-time high temperature records. But in western Canada? Completely different temperature story. Alberta set 46 daily record lows across the province between June 15 and 20. According to ECCC, the coldest temperatures came on the morning of June 17, with many weather stations in the mountains and foothills recording temperatures below zero.
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No. 10 Wildfires in Labrador
“June in Labrador was much warmer and drier than average,” says ECCC. “A particularly warm and dry stretch during the first half of the month dried out vegetation throughout the region’s boreal forests, increasing the fire risk. Then, the lightning came.” On the 13th—maybe it really is an unlucky number—lightning ignited wildfires southwest of Churchill Falls. Then, on June 19, the temperature soared to a record 32.6 °C. This heat, combined with gusty winds, pushed the fires closer to town, and residents were forced to evacuate. It wasn’t until two weeks later that they could safely return. In July, hot, dry weather—and lightning strikes—brought fires just west of Labrador City, forcing an evacuation that lasted for 10 days.
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