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Western “heat dome” top weather story of 2021 in Canada

TORONTO, ON – From extreme heat to never-seen-before flooding in British Columbia, it was quite the year for weather across Canada.

Extreme summer time heat here in the western half of the country was chosen as the number one weather story in 2021.

The annual list was released Thursday by Environment Canada’s Senior Climatologist, David Phillips.

The heat dome set daily records in late June and early July as you will likely remember, including a blistering 49.6°C recorded in Lytton, British Columbia. That was the hottest temperature every recorded in Canada. A day later, most of that entire village was lost in a ranging wildfire.

Lethbridge set a number of new daytime heat records during that stretch as well as the heat moved from west to east.

The number two weather story this year was the B.C. flooding earlier this fall, followed by extreme dry conditions coast-to-coast and a very active and early wildfire season.

Officials say these top stories clearly show that Canadians across the country are seeing unprecedented extreme weather, fuelled by climate change.

Top 10 Weather Stories of 2021:

  1. Record Heat Under the Dome
  2. British Columbia’s Flood of Floods
  3. Canada Dry Coast to Coast
  4. Wildfire Season – early, active and unrelenting
  5. Canada rides out four heat waves
  6. Year of the EF2 Tornado
  7. Dreaded Arctic Blast Freezes Canada in February
  8. Another hailer-flooder in Calgary
  9. Hurricane Larry belonged to Newfoundland
  10. January Prairie Clipper
Patrick Siedlecki
Patrick Siedlecki
Pat has been a mainstay in the CJOC News department from the time the station launched in 2007. He's been in the position of News Director since then and has been anchoring daily news casts as well as reporting and working behind the scenes. Community is important to him and keeping CJOC listeners and readers informed about what's happening across southern Alberta and beyond. Pat has been in radio broadcasting for the past 24 years, starting in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island in 1997 and then moving up island to Nanaimo for another few years before heading to Lethbridge in 2007. Pat grew up in the small Saskatchewan farming town of Foam Lake. After high school, he went to Western Academy Broadcasting College (WABC) in Saskatoon prior to moving to the island. Pat also spent several years broadcasting hockey in the BCHL as well as seven years as the radio voice of the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the WHL. Pat has been working at Cornerstone Funeral Home in Lethbridge as a Certified Life Celebrant and Funeral Assistant since 2016. News and sports have always been Pat's passion from the time he was a teenager and he's always been grateful to have had the opportunity to make that part of what's been a fun and long radio career!
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