Preheat oven to well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove one large-size country from deep-freeze and place on top rack. Cook until bone dry. Remove and steam entreé until limp and lifeless. Sprinkle with dust and pollutants. Enjoy.
Yep, it’s been that kind of year for Canadian weather. That according to Environment Canada, which recently released its top weather stories for 2001.
A massive drought rivalled only by the dustbowls of the dirty thirties took top spot in the top ten list, followed closely by the never-ending winter which saw Eastern Canada experience the longest period of snow cover in more than 100 years.
Compiled by Canada’s senior climatologist David Phillips, the yearly list takes into account weather’s economic and social impact, scope and duration to come up with a top-ten ranking. And while cold weather may be best remembered by Canadians —especially those in Newfoundland where 500 million tonnes of snow fell—it was heat-related stories that secured the majority of places on the list.
“It was really a national drought,” Phillips said of the low rainfall that caused a 40 per cent drop in harvests of everything from prairie wheat to PEI potatoes. “In some areas, you could fill a thimble with the amount [of rain] that fell from the first day of July to the end of August.”
In all, the drought caused at least $5 billion in losses, with many farmers simply giving up on the growing season. Meanwhile, city dwellers were suffering with a summer of unprecedented humidity that caused everything from fatigue to nausea—and even a few deaths—all of which were dramatic enough to secure third place on the list. With humidex values pushing temperatures to more than 40 degrees across Canada, Saskatoon issued its first humidity warning in three decades, and Toronto had its second-hottest day in history, setting new energy and water use records.
“Our summers would still be tame by New Orleans standards,” Phillip said, but adds that because hot, humid summers seem so out of place, Canadians are unable to handle them. “People in the southern U.S. would laugh at us, just like the winter blasts in the U.S. make us laugh.”
The humidity had one beneficial effect, however, helping counter what Phillips says could have been “a nation on fire from coast to coast.” Moist air, combined with strong fire management and few lightning strikes, prevented forest fires from raging out of control despite the low precipitation and high heat that turned much of the nation’s forests into tinderboxes, good for fourth place.
Rounding out the top five was a near epidemic of gritty brown air descending on Windsor and Toronto, then gradually moving up to Montreal and Atlantic Canada. All areas had more than double their usual number smog days, with Toronto and Windsor experiencing 23 days of smog alerts—days when it is advised to avoid all exercise and stay inside—including an unprecedented five-day stretch of bad air.
The smog, humidity and heat also meant the ninth year in a row that temperature has risen. This, coupled with the fact that 2001 marked the 23rd year in a row of increasing global temperatures, was good for number nine on the list, and is the source of some concern.
“Although yet another warm year is not itself evidence of climate change, the unprecedented increase in global temperatures in the past 25 years has added to concrete and compelling evidence of humankind’s contribution to climate change,” Phillips said.
He added that the contrast of weather between the last two years may also be evidence of global warming, although the link is only circumstantial at this point.
“One of the major concerns about global warming is the flip-flop, the surprises, and we have clearly seen a lot of surprises,” he said. “It is very inviting to link it to climate change. It’s consistent with what one thinks, but it may be 10 or 15 years before we say for sure it was global warming.”
Rounding out the list was the combining of several weather systems for a “perfect storm” that pounded the East Coast late in the year (6), the terrific winter recreation conditions in the East Coast (7), British Columbia’s windstorm which had the province’s fourth-strongest wind on record (8) and a series of freak lightning deaths (10—see sidebar).
“It’s funny that people in this country want to be on this list,” Phillips observed. “I keep telling people that this list is like the ten worst-dressed people, not the ten best. You don’t want to be on this list.”
In response to the high interest, Phillips is now also compiling a runners-up list as well as regional rankings.
“We want to feel like we’ve all experienced misery, hardship and misfortune just like everyone else.”
Freak Lightning Deaths
Each year in Canada, lightning kills six to 12 people on average—not surprising, given that lightning hits Canada eight million times a year. Most victims are hit outdoors, when the storm is raging, and most are single-fatality cases. This year was not exceptional for its number of fatalities, but for the unusual circumstances surrounding four deaths, good for 10th spot on the list.
On June 16, lightning struck and killed a teenage girl south of Wakefield, Quebec. The erratic lightning bolt struck her after the rain had ended and the sun was shining—literally a bolt from the blue. Her companions were also knocked to the ground but not seriously injured. The same thunderstorm shocked and burned 11 soccer players and bystanders, none seriously, in a Montreal park.
On July 22, lightning took the lives of two men who had taken shelter from a thunderstorm under a tree west of Toronto. A single lightning bolt had hit the tree directly and jumped across to the friends, killing them instantly, a rare double fatality.
On August 7, near Burks Falls, Ontario, lightning instantly killed an elderly man standing indoors while he was watching the passing thunderstorm.
Environment Canada says lessons can be learned from these tragic incidents. They include: waiting at least 30 minutes after seeing the last lightning flash or hearing the final peal of thunder before venturing outside; avoiding standing next to someone while waiting for a thunderstorm to pass (at least five metres’ distance should be kept); and remembering that there are no safe havens from lightning, not even indoors.
Photograph by Simon Turnbull
