Canada's Top Ten Weather Stories for 2013

A Year in Review - 2013 Weather Stories

Floods were the big newsmakers in Canada in 2013. In some cases it was fast and furious rains that were to blame; in others it was a mix of rainfall and snowmelt. Add an urban landscape with little capacity to absorb the aftermath and you have all the key ingredients for an ominous overflow.

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The Top Ten

1. Alberta's Flood of Floods

Alberta’s super flood of 2013 washed across one-quarter of the province and through the heart of Calgary. It was likely the most disruptive flood in Canadian history, cutting off dozens of communities and prompting the largest evacuation with up to 100,000 Albertans told to leave their homes. 

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2. Toronto's Torrent

Two separate storm cells struck Toronto during evening rush hour on July 8. This one-two weather punch delivered more rain in two hours than Toronto usually sees during an entire July. Never before had such a drenching thunderstorm soaked a surface with more cement than grass.

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3. Bumper Crops in the West, So-So for the Rest

In the West, the growing season came pretty darn close to perfect with food producers describing it as incredible, bin-busting and best in a lifetime. Heading eastward, the growing season was more of a rollercoaster – some crop yields were up and some were down.

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4. To Flood or Not to Flood

Flood forecasters were predicting yet another major Red River Valley flood, which would be the third in five years. But what experts considered a “sure” flood never came to be after a cold spring eased snowmelt and kept water levels manageable.

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5. Rebound in the Arctic Ocean and the Great Lakes

In the eastern Arctic, the coldest summer in 15 years helped slow sea ice melting in the Canadian Arctic Ocean. For the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence, it was one of the wettest years on record – more than 13 per cent wetter than normal – which helped restore water levels.

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6. Wicked Winter Weather Wallops the East

In February, two weather systems morphed into a blizzard of historic proportions with as much as 60 cm of snow falling along the Atlantic coast. For many in southern Ontario and Quebec, it was a one-day event that packed a punch with strong gusty winds and tons of blowing snow.

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7. Spring Flooding in Ontario's Cottage Country

Warm, moist mid-April weather led to major flooding north and east of Georgian Bay in Ontario’s cottage country. Copious amounts of warm rain also melted a later-than-normal snowpack. The ensuing melt water and rains funneled quickly into rivers, lakes and streams causing some of the highest and fastest rising water levels in recent memory.

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8. Prairie Winter Went on Forever

Environment Canada considers the months of December through February as winter. Tell that to the Prairies, where cold, snow and ice went on for seven months from October 2012 to April 2013. As a result, it felt and looked like winter from before Thanksgiving to a month after Easter.

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9. Stormy Seas and Maritime Tragedy

In a month of frequent winter storms across eastern North America, none was more tragic than the powerful storm that led to the drowning of five young fishermen off Nova Scotia.

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10. Sunny and Rainless in BC

It is hard to imagine a better month of weather along the Pacific coast than in July 2013, which featured record breaking continuous sunshine and not a single drop of rain in either Vancouver or Victoria.

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Runner-Up Weather Stories

1. Newfoundland’s Old-time Blizzard
2. Early February Atlantic Storm
3. Highway Mayhem near Edmonton
4. Fort McMurray Flooding
5. Manitoba’s Wild July Storms
6. Few Wildfires but Large Burn
7. Eastern Canada’s Short Summer
8. Fogtober on the Pacific Coast
9. American Thanksgiving Storm Blows into Canada
10. Quiet Storm Season Surprises Hurricane
11. Classic Prairie Blizzard

Regional Highlights

Atlantic Canada

1. January Ends Warm, Windy and Snowless
2. Fog on Fogo
3. Early Spring Flooding
4. Newfoundland’s Victoria Weekend Snowfall
5. New Brunswick Tornado
6. New Brunswick Soaker
7. August Soaker
8. Blustery Labour Day Weekend
9. Badger Loses Power in Storm

Quebec

1. Montréal’s Storm of the Century
2. January Deep Freeze and Power Surge
3. High Winds Postpone Rescue Efforts
4. Snow on First Day of Spring
5. Early Season Heat Wave
6. Quebec’s First Tornado and Last Snowfall
7. Stormy Weather
8. Storm with Everything
9. Flooding Rainfalls
10. First snows are heavy
11. Witches of November

Ontario

1. Spectacular January Thaw
2. Highway Chaos
3. Another January Thaw
4. April Cruel
5. Coming of Spring
6. James Bay Flooding
7. A Tornado Swarm
8. Torrential May Rains
9. Windsor’s Wettest Month on Record
10. A Soaker in the North
11. Four Tornado Days
12. Sault Soaker in September
13. Soggy September Weekend
14. Record Wet Fall
15. Swarm of Waterspouts over Lakes Ontario and Erie
16. First-ever Snow-nado?
17. Classic Lake-effect Snowstorms

Prairie Provinces

1. Powerful Prairie Blizzard
2. Three-province Storm
3. St. Patrick’s Day Storm
4. May Day Storm
5. A Tsunami of Ice
6. Two May Storms
7. Snowy November in Alberta

British Columbia

1. Foggy Spell
2. Sunshine Missing
3. Avalanche Weather
4. Spring Flooding Threat
5. Wettest September on Record
6. Yukon Cold Makes B.C. White Gold

The North

1. Fracturing Ice
2. Orcas trapped with nowhere to go
3. Good Ice Road Year
4. Record Spring Snowfall
5. Northern Heat Wave