Alonsa tornado misses the cut for Environment Canada’s top 10 weather events

Environment Canada’s senior climatologist David Phillips has released his annual list of Canada’s top 10 weather stories, and Manitobans may have noticed something that didn’t make the list.

“The one story I wanted to put in the list but didn’t was the tornado in Alonsa,” Phillips told 680 CJOB Thursday.

“It turned out to be the most powerful tornado on this planet, and sadly, it killed somebody.

“From a meteorological point of view, it was a real headshaker, and normally that would make the list, but there were just too many (weather events) that affected so many people. They were deadly, they were extreme, they were out of place.”

Although the tough growing season for the prairie harvest made Phillips’ list, he said Manitoba, in general, stayed on the sidelines this year.

Phillips said in his 23 years of compiling the list, he’s seen the number of extreme weather events grow substantially.

“In those early years, I had to really work to find these stories, and now – my goodness – it’s all over the place,” he said.

“I think it’s getting wilder. They’re more impactful events. I think the weather is getting more wonky, wacky, wild and extreme.”

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Canada’s top 10 weather stories of 2018, as per Phillips:

1. Record wildfires and smoky skies
2. Canada affected by global summer heatwave
3. Hot and dry to snow-filled skies blunt the prairie harvest
4. Powerful May winds cost $1 billion
5. Ottawa-Gatineau tornadoes on summer’s last day
6. Spring flooding throughout southern B.C.
7. Flash flooding of the Saint John River
8. Toronto’s August deluge
9. Record cold start to a long winter
10. A cruel, cold, and stormy April

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