In a clear indication of just how extreme the weather was this year in Canada, the Prairie drought only featured at No. 3 in Environment and Climate Change Canada’s top 10 weather stories of the year.
Released Thursday, the top story on the list was the heat wave that hit British Columbia in June, characterized as deadliest weather event in Canadian history. The No. 2 story also involved British Columbia, only this time it was the devastating floods in November that briefly cut off rail access to the Port of Vancouver and caused billions of dollars in damage.
As for the drought across Western Canada, what made it so extraordinary was how widespread, severe and long lasting it was, Environment Canada said. Even before summer was half over, dozens of rural communities had declared states of agricultural disaster. With a week to go before harvest, the Canadian Drought Monitor classified 99% of the Prairie agricultural landscape being in drought.
However, the seeds of the drought were sown months, if not seasons, before 2021, the government noted. Across much of the west, fields through winter 2020-21 were brown for more days than they were white with snow. In fact, it was the driest winter in 50 years in parts of Alberta. Edmonton had its second driest winter in 136 years. In Calgary, the spring rain was less than half of normal.
Southern Manitoba was Canada's epicenter for drought, especially in the Red River Valley and the Interlake region. Some places like Winnipeg had their two driest back-to-back years in over a century, the government said.
Meanwhile, things were dry farther east as well, although rain did come later. Spring precipitation was between 25-75% of normal in Ontario and Quebec. Deficits ranged from 110 to 130 mm in places such as Chatham-Kent in southwestern Ontario and in the Montreal area. May was among the driest on record from London to Ottawa covering 75 years. However, welcome rains finally came in June, great for the crops that followed.
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