The top weather story of 2007 was a chunk of ice.
But it wasn't just any chunk of ice. It was a chunk the size of Ontario that melted away in the Arctic this year and stunned climatologists at Environment Canada.
were both fascinated and disturbed in mid-September, when they reviewed satellite images that showed that Arctic sea ice shrank to about four million square kilometres -- a 23 per cent drop from 5.3 million square kilometres in 2005.
Indeed, the United Nations declared the record loss of ice as one of the world's biggest events.
One effect of the melting ice cap was the opening of the Northwest Passage, which remained nearly ice-free and navigable for about five weeks.
Senior climatologist David Phillips says the thinning and shrinking of the ice was largely a result of too many consecutive warm years, along with a lot of sunshine this year in the Arctic, which helped to "decay" the ice cap.
Phillips says the melt could yet be the story of the century.
"We don't know the implications of this dramatic disappearance of the ice," he told Canada AM Thursday.
"I mean, scientists were shocked, were stunned by the fact that this ice just totally disappeared. And what implications that has on our weather and anything weird, wild and wacky with the weather I think will be probably blamed on this disappearance, this vanishing of the ice at the top of the world."
Second on Environment Canada's list of top weather stories were the floods and the threat of flooding in British Columbia this past spring.
The area experienced a record deep mountain snow pack that didn't lessen in April as usual; instead more snow piled on. Once May arrived, a perfect recipe for disaster was in place and experts were calling for flooding that could have resulted in thousands of evacuations and caused $6 billion in damage.
But by June, rivers had peaked or were falling and the Fraser Valley avoided catastrophe when cooler temperatures returned and an expected storm moved out of the area at the last minute. The central interior and north coasts still had to endure devastating flooding.
Next on the list were was all the winter weather mayhem that hit in December from coast to coast -- before winter even officially arrived - and allowed almost all of Canada to enjoy a white Christmas.
The hot and sticky summer on the Prairies and the dry summer in southern Ontario rounded out the Top 5.
"Oh, my gosh, Prairie residents always say, 'Well, at least our heat is dry.' Not this year," says Phillips. "They had record high humidex values. That affected, of course, health. Elective surgeries were cancelled. And you couldn't buy an air conditioner on the Prairies."
The effects of Hurricane Noel in eastern Canada was No. 6 on the list, followed by falling water levels in the Great Lakes; the late start to the 06-07 winter; record Prairie storms and Canada's first recorded F-5 tornado, which carried winds above 420 km/h and touched down in Elie, Man. on June 22.
Environment Canada says it creates its list of top weather stories based on the impact they had on Canada and Canadians; the extent of the area affected; economic effects; and longevity as a top news story.
In general, it was another hot year for Canada, although not as warm as it has been in recent years. The year tied for the second mildest winter on record, some 3�C warmer than normal. The summer was the seventh steamiest at about 1.0�C warmer than usual.
Every region was warmer, especially the Eastern Arctic, which experienced its fourth warmest January-to-November period on record.
Top Ten Weather Stories for 2007
- Vanishing ice at the top of the world
- BC's long flood threat
- Pre-winter weather mayhem from coast to coast
- Tropical summer on the Prairies
- Oh so dry in southern Ontario
- Big bad Noel but no Juan
- Great Lakes - how low will they go?
- A winter that wasn't - almost!
- Record Prairie hailers
- Canada's first F5 tornado
Runner-up stories
- Some of the worst Prairie flooding ever
- Saskatoon's nastiest blizzard in 50 years
- West Nile Virus infects record numbers
- A Valentine's Day "weather massacre"
- Ice along the East Coast ? Too thin and too thick
- The wildland fire season
- A Thanksgiving Day cooker
