Canada's worst weather

 

The Ice Storm of 1998

by: Siobhan McClelland

Rate: ****

 

The ice storm in 1998 was the biggest storm Canada had ever been affected by. Taking power from 4 different provinces.

 

In 1998 a low-pressure warm front from Texas collided with a high-pressure Arctic cold front. causing freezing rain to fall upon most of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, leaving ice everywhere. as the ice got thicker and thicker, power and telephone lines went down, and millions of trees to fall.The storm affected more Canadians than any previous weather event in the country. in the end, 35 people died, most from hypothermia. 945 people were injured and over 4 million people across those 4 provinces lost power.

 

This article surprised me, I never knew so much damage was done by that particular ice storm. I have always known about it, seeing as I was born in that year but I never knew that it killed 35 people, and injured almost 1000. Its remarkable what the weather is capable, especially just from something like a low pressure warm front and high pressure cold front meeting. reading this article, in a sense gave me a wake up call. I now realize how dangerous and unpredicting the weather can be. Something that started as freezing rain ended up being the biggest weather event Canada has ever experienced. its mind blowing what the weather can accomplish.

 

 

"Canada's worst weather"- Siobhan McClelland. Canadian geographic. June 2014 http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/magazine/jun14/10-canadian-natural-disasters.asp