Environment Canada says the "Arctic thaw" in Canada's north may turn out be the "story of the century," but the number one weather story of 2008 was Eastern Canada's soggy summer.
During a telephone conference with reporters from across the country, David Phillips, the government agency's senior climatologist, listed off the agency's top ten weather stories list on Tuesday.
He said he and his staff had as many as 60 stories to choose from before they were finally honed down to the top ten.
"Canadians were talking a lot about the weather," Phillips said. "It's something we're experts about and familiar with."
Phillips and Environment Canada staffers chose their top 10 based on a number of criteria, including the social and economic impact of an event, its geographic range, and the duration and physical impact of the weather event.
Here's Environment Canada's top ten list for 2008.
1. Eastern Canada's summer rain
Cities such as Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal faced a "classic water torture" test, Phillips said, noting that there were few days without at least some precipitation during the summer.
Even the Maritimes weren't left dry in the latter half of the summer, he said, where almost every day of August was a wet day.
"I don't think I've ever heard any more complaining about the weather from so many people," Phillips said.
"It was just a soggy and soppy wet summer and ... Canadians, particularly in the East, were feeling that they were owed some good weather and they didn't get it."
2. Continuation of the "great Arctic thaw"
This was Environment Canada's number one story last year. The disappearing ice is no less significant in 2008, Phillips said, noting that Canada's north saw the greatest daily melt of ice this past August.
"In many ways, it may be the story of the century," he said.
"The map of Canada is changing ... ancient ice shelves are being chiselled down."
3. Eastern Canada's never-ending winter
The early part of 2008 saw parts of Eastern Canada fall just short of record setting snowfalls. Ottawa alone had more than 450 centimetres of snow, less than 15 cm shy of an all time high.
4. New Brunswick's Saint John River floods
"It was the perfect storm for flooding" and the worst in 35 years, Phillips said, noting that 1,000 people had to be evacuated along the banks of the rising river.
5. The pre-winter shockers, December 2008
Phillips said after a relatively mild November, the cold snapped back with fury over the past few weeks.
Edmonton had a low of -36 in mid-December, which made that city colder than the North Pole. But some could consider that rather balmy compared to Key Lake, Sask., which recorded a low of -42 C. It's not been much better in other parts of Canada, with Vancouver recording a rare weather phenomenon -- a white Christmas, its first in decades.
6. Summer hailstorms
Phillips said these were "pop up storms" throughout the summer that stretched from British Columbia's Okanagan Valley all the way to Ontario. They wreaked havoc on farmers crops, particularly in B.C.
7. The long winter
Phillips said the last weekend of March showed Eastern Canadians that spring wasn't just around the corner. He said March was the "winter's last hurrah" as Eastern Canada continued to see more snowfall and dipping temperatures.
8. Hannah and her brothers
These were the late summer hurricanes and tropical storms that generally started in the Carribbean before moving into the U.S. and north into Atlantic Canada.
Phillips said that in total there were 16 named storms, with Hurricane Hannah hitting Canada on Labour Day weekend. It doused St. John, N.L., with 104 mm of rain, one of the wettest days in the city's history.
9. Canada's West becomes one of the coldest place on earth
The period between late January and February 2008 saw temperatures drop so much that Canadians faced some of the world's harshest temperatures.
"It was a deep freeze that put the West on ice," Phillips said.
10. Prince Edward Island ice storm
This was the period in late January that brought 32 hours of freezing rain and drizzle to the island. In some of the province's communities, 95 per cent of the residents were without power.
The ice storm brought down thousands of kilometres of power lines and "utility poles fell like dominoes," Phillips said.
It was so bad that crews from New England came to Canada to help -- and Ottawa put the military on standby in case the emergency worsened. It was P.E.I.'s "storm of the century," Phillips said.
With files from The Canadian Press
