These were Canada’s ‘most significant’ weather events, from floods to fires

Researchers at Environment and Climate Change Canada on Thursday released their list of Canada’s top 10 weather events of 2025, highlighting a year defined by costly weather extremes.

The list was chosen based on the scale of the devastation, the number of Canadians affected and the financial toll, and saw 2025 mark the second-worst year in Canadian history for wildfires.

It paints a picture of charred landscapes, debris piles where homes once stood, fields underwater and decimated by baseball-sized hail, scorching heat and relentless storms.

The destructive wildfire season took the top spot, while the drought took the second spot and the powerful thunderstorms that hit central and eastern Ontario took third place.

Officials ranked the full top 10 list as:

1. Canada’s second-worst year for forest fires
2. The worsening drought
3. Powerful thunderstorms in central and eastern Ontario
4. Heat and dry conditions fuelling forest fires in Manitoba
5. The Ontario ice storm
6. Snowstorms in Central and Eastern Canada
7. Powerful storms in the Prairies
8. Tuktoyaktuk flooded in Arctic storm surge
9. A violent November storm overshadows hurricane season in Canada
10. A sweltering end to summer in Western Canada

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Canada’s most extreme weather events are becoming more commonplace and expensive, and recent disasters have seen insurance claims and rebuilding costs climb.

1:48 Insurance coverage and assistance for homes and businesses impacted by wildfires

“Extreme weather events are getting more expensive in just about every way,” said Ryan Ness, director of adaptation at the Canadian Climate Institute.

It’s not only the immediate cost of emergency response and repairs but also “the knock-on effects on reduced business profits and slower economic growth,” Ness said.

“We are continually being shown to be unprepared for the harsher and more volatile climate that climate change is bringing for Canada and the repetitive types of disasters. We need to not be surprised when these kinds of events happen again.”

In many cases, “these events are traceable back to climate change,” Ness added.

However, a recent federal report shows that Canada is not on track to reach its 2030 climate goals of a 40 to 45 per cent reduction in emissions below 2005 levels.

“In the 30 years of sharing Canada’s top weather stories, one thing hasn’t changed,” said Jennifer Smith, national warning preparedness meteorologist.

“No matter the storm, communities stepped up, neighbours helped neighbours.”

— With files from Global News’ Touria Izri