Outages in the wake of Eastern Canada’s early April ice storm led to delays of the CFIA’s digital import declaration system.

Ice storm bottlenecks CFIA import system

Outages led to a temporary backlog of digital declaration paperwork awaiting processing

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency was among the victims of an ice storm that struck Eastern Canada in early April. On April 6, the national agency announced it was experiencing delays in processing import declarations. The CFIA’s systems were functional, users of the online portal were told, and Canadians were urged to continue submitting information

Weather: Winter tries to hang on

Forecast issued Apr. 14, 2023, covering the period from Apr. 19 to Apr. 26, 2023

Surprisingly for spring, last week’s forecast played out close to what the weather models predicted. The expected Colorado low late in the week developed as the models thought it would. It moved in earlier and moved out earlier and was not as strong as forecasted. It did intensify, but not until it was in northern Ontario, and that


Average to fewer Atlantic storms forecast

Average to fewer Atlantic storms forecast

Forecasts for the previous seven hurricane seasons have predicted above- average levels of activity

Reuters – U.S. private forecaster AccuWeather expects a near- to below-average 2023 Atlantic hurricane season, it said March 26. The hurricane season begins June 1. AccuWeather said it expects 11 to 15 named tropical storms, four to eight hurricanes and between one and three major hurricanes to form in the Atlantic Ocean before the season ends Nov. 30. “We think El Niño will

Manitoba’s spring storms, my top story of 2022

The province saw a series of six storms over six weeks

In a previous article we began our look back at how 2022 shaped up, weather-wise, by examining global temperature patterns. This time we will zoom in closer to home and begin our annual review of Environment Canada’s top weather stories of 2022. As usual, I will put a bit of my own spin on some


Vehicles are shown wrecked along the Highway 401/402 corridor near London, Ont. on Dec. 23, 2022. (Ontario Provincial Police photo via Twitter)

Winter storm causes havoc across Canada

Alberta ranchers shelter cattle against winds

Ottawa/Winnipeg | Reuters — Strong winds, freezing rain and heavy snowfall closed schools, cut power to homes and cancelled flights across Canada on Friday as a powerful winter storm swept across the country, prompting authorities to warn people to stay indoors ahead of worsening conditions. The storm is connected to the same freezing weather system

A composite satellite view of Hurricane Fiona nearing Nova Scotia at about 6 p.m. local time on Sept. 23, 2022. (U.S. National Hurricane Center image, NOAA.gov)

Fiona pounds Bermuda as Canada braces for major jolt

Up to eight inches of rain expected along path

Hamilton, Bermuda/Halifax, N.S. | Reuters — Hurricane Fiona pounded the Atlantic island of Bermuda with heavy rain and winds on Friday as it tracked northward toward Eastern Canada, where it threatens to become one of the most severe storms in Canadian history. Fiona had already battered a series of Caribbean islands earlier in the week,


File photo of wild horses running on grasslands in Nova Scotia’s remote Sable Island National Park Reserve. (Photo by Sarah Medill/Parks Canada/Handout via Reuters)

Wild horses face unruly storms as Fiona nears East Coast

Damages feared to buildings, utilities, crops

Ottawa | Reuters — Shaggy, long-maned wild horses grazing freely on the sandy grasslands of the crescent-shaped Sable Island in the North Atlantic are expected to come under the swipe of a powerful storm forecast to hit Eastern Canada this weekend. Hurricane Fiona, tracking northward after carving a destructive path through the Dominican Republic and

A look at thunderbolts and lightning

Mother Nature’s fireworks can be very, very frightening – with good reason

There have been several strong thunderstorms impacting various areas of Manitoba in the last while. It got me thinking about thunderstorms and, in particular, lightning, so I checked past articles and it appears that we haven’t gone into much detail about lightning in our discussions of various severe summer weather threats. Let’s look at how


China hit by rare convergence of rainfall, heat waves and a tornado

China was hit the week of June 12 by a rare convergence of record rainfall, heat waves, and a tornado in the southern mega-city of Guangzhou, displacing millions of people, damaging properties and swamping farmland, with more storms and floods on the way at press time. Southern China is expected to see torrential rain until

A damaged car is seen in the aftermath of a tornado at Forada, Minnesota, about 170 km southeast of Fargo, on May 31.

Understanding severe thunderstorms

Thunderstorms can rotate when the wind changes direction with altitude

Fortunately, I do not have to write another article about rain. While some regions are still dealing with flooded land, the dry weather has allowed a number of farmers to finally get onto their fields to seed. I sometimes take my two gardens as a predictor of what is happening out there. One garden is