Quebec's year of extremes: The Top 5 list
Good fall, bad hurricane, ugly Richelieu flooding all on province's list
ANNE SUTHERLAND, The GazettePublished: Friday, December 23, 2011
MONTREAL - As distinct as we are, Quebec had a separate Top 5 weather list, as noted by Environment Canada meteorologist René Héroux.
While some mutter that global warming is a falsehood, our local weather expert says the frequency and severity of droughts, floods and other major events is increasing as the temperatures rise.
"Since the 1980s, temperatures have increased three times faster than over the previous 100 years," said Héroux.
1 RICHELIEU FLOODING: A combination of high snowpacks in the U.S., warmer-than-normal March temperatures and teeming April rains caused the inundation of the Richelieu Valley.
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"Weather variability is always there, but that changeability has been enhanced by climate change."
Whereas the 37 consecutive days of flooding in the Richelieu Valley was No. 3 nationwide, it earned top spot chez nous.
"There was an important coincidence with abundant snowfall in the U.S. in the Adirondack and Green Mountains, and then in March we had temperatures in the 20s, which created a fast melt," Héroux said. "The water poured into Lake Champlain, which is a big basin that drains slowly into the Richelieu River. Then the heavy rains came in April, and already high levels got higher."
Water extended one kilometre overland from the normal banks of the river
"We cannot say that the Richelieu flooding was due just to climate change; it was a combination of things. There is a slim chance that this will happen again."
The No. 2 event was when Irene roared through at the end of August.
For once, Quebec took a direct hit, whereas most of the storms slam the Maritimes and give us the tail end.
"Irene came up the east coast doing $7 billion to $10 billion of damage, but because we saw it from afar there were warnings and preparedness, and that made the difference," Héroux said. Parts of Quebec saw up to 150 millimetres of rain that weekend.
The No. 3 weather event in the province was our summer of extremes.
July was the second hottest on record for Montreal, surpassed only by July 1955, but we had more violent storms in August - 21 vs. the norm of 12, with heavy rain and hail.
The storms were bad here but they were wild in the Saguenay region, the complete opposite of 2010 when there was no rain. Water levels rose with all the precipitation, flooding roads and property.
After the hot and stormy summer came our No. 4 weather event - an extraordinary autumn, which ended officially at 12: 30 a.m. Thursday.
"The months of September, October and November were hotter than ever recorded," Héroux said. "We had half the normal number of frosts and the leaves took longer to fall. It was a record autumn."
The No. 5 event for Quebec was the March snowfall that mostly skirted Montreal but packed a wallop in Sherbrooke, leaving the Eastern Townships city with a staggering 70 centimetres of heavy snow.
"The storm began on Sunday and by Monday they were paralyzed - snowmobiles in the streets and cross country skis," Héroux said.
As the planet heats up, no matter how small the increments, it is affecting our weather, Héroux said.
"Our cold fronts come from the northwest, travelling over Hudson Bay. If the water in the Bay isn't frozen, there is less cold air coming our way than before.
"It's like someone playing with the thermostat and 'let's see what happens.' Less cold air in the north wrecks the equilibrium."
While some snow haters are crowing about our warm winter with no shovelling to date, Héroux is not so delirious.
"In my job, my scope is wider and I can see that it's not good," he said.