It's been a year of fire and brimstone for weather watchers, according to Environment Canada, which listed mammoth-sized floods, fires and droughts at the top weather stories of 2011.
Massive floods in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec swallowed up two of the top three spots in the year-end list released Thursday by Dave Phillips, the agency's senior climatologist.
The number two spot went to the devastating fire that destroyed one-third of Slave Lake, a small town in northern Alberta, in May.
The above-average number of highly disastrous events cost the country billions and put a lot on Canada's plate, said Phillips.
"We were getting our own fair share of misery, hardship and misfortune from the weather," he said. "There have been tough years but I think this one, in many ways, has been difficult from an expensive point of view and the extreme aspect of it."
The agency says its choices are based on impact, the size of the affected area and the economic effects of each event.
1. Historic floods in Saskatchewan and Manitoba
Referring to the Saskatchewan and Manitoba floods as "unprecedented on so many fronts," Phillips described how melting spring snow washed over land still wet from the previous falls' precipitation. The result soaked the flood-prone region surrounding the Assiniboine, Souris, Red, Fisher, Saskatchewan and Icelandic rivers under its highest water levels on record.
Several cities, towns and First Nations were either evacuated or under threat, with water ruining farmer's fields, enveloping kilometres of roadway and contaminating houses. Hundreds of people have yet to return home.
"I don't think anybody realized the amount of water that was coming at us," Brian Spurrill, who lives in the southwestern Manitoba community of Melita, told The Canadian Press at the time.
Various levels of government spent about $1 billion fighting the creeping waters and helping affected residents. At least 10 communities are still under flood-related states of emergency.
2. Wildfires ravage Slave Lake
Meanwhile, the land in Slave Lake was at the other end of the spectrum -- dry and parched -- when a fire believed to be deliberately set destroyed a huge swath of the town.
The May 14 disaster destroyed 400 buildings, left 2,000 residents homeless and killed a helicopter pilot involved in firefighting. Included in the damage were the town's library, government offices, a radio station and two churches.
3. Richelieu River floods
In spring 2011, Quebec grappled with its longest-running natural disaster, as 2,000 residents along the Richelieu River dealt with their own flooding emergency for 37 consecutive days.
Intense rain and melting snow caused the river to surge, flooding fields and homes as far as a kilometre from the river's edge. Many residents whose homes were affected are still living in hotels.
4. Challenging growing season for farmers
The list's fourth-place story takes the floods, droughts, and weather challenges of all kinds into account, as Canadian farmers across the country faced challenges of all kinds.
5. Tornado hits Goderich
The picturesque southwestern Ontario town of Goderich is still rebuilding after an F-3 tornado swept through in August, damaging its historic town square, dozens of homes and killing a worker at the local salt mine.
6. Atlantic region battered by hurricanes
It was a notably busy hurricane season in Atlantic Canada starting in August, with 19 tropical storms forming in the Atlantic basin -- well above the average of 11.
Seven of the storms developed into actual hurricanes, which battered the region endlessly and caused significant damage.
7. Summer a mixed bag of weather
Central Canadians languished in the heat and sun of one of the clearest summers in recent years, while those on the coasts experienced cool and wet conditions.
8. Arctic sea ice near record low
A drastic drop in ice levels in the Arctic threatened the life of animals and the people who rely on them in the northernmost parts of Canada.
This summer alone, Canada's largest ice shelf split into two pieces and another is now nearly gone, tearing away some three billion tonnes of ice from the northern coastline.
9. Groundhog Day blizzard
Activity across a massive swath of Canada and the United States ground to a halt on Groundhog Day, and in some places, for days and weeks afterward, after a massive storm made landfall.
Flights were grounded across the continent, while parts of Quebec got 50 centimetres of snow. In the United States, 36 deaths were attributed to the storm.
10. High winds rip through southern Alberta
Cars were destroyed and a roof peeled off a high-school gym in November as usually high winds blasted southern Alberta.
With files from The Canadian Press
