Aviva Canada s CEO says pandemic insurance coverage is now a thing of the past theglobeandmail.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theglobeandmail.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
CALGARY Two winter storms with extreme winds which hit Alberta in mid-January caused more than $62 million in insured damages, according to surveys conducted by the Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. (CatIQ) An intense wind storm on Jan. 12 to 14 shook the southern portion of the province with widespread power outages caused by the winds and downed trees. The storm caused an estimated $30 million in damages primarily around Taber, Lethbridge and Calgary. Wind gusts in the storm exceeded 100 km/h. Alberta s second winter storm of 2021 was a snowsquall with tornado-level winds which occurred Jan. 19 and 20. It caused an estimated $32 million in damages.
Globe Climate: Keystone is just the beginning for the Biden team theglobeandmail.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theglobeandmail.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Environment Canada Canada is warming at nearly twice the global rate with parts of western and northern Canada warming three or four times the global average. Sea ice in the North is thinning and shrinking, and our unique ice shelves are crumbling into pieces. While Canada is still the snowiest country, less snow is falling across the south. White Christmases’ are less frequent and less white. Frost-free days are increasing, and our growing season is longer, but so too is the length and severity of the wildfire season. Weather systems are moving slower, leaving more time to make an impact. When it rains it often rains harder and longer. Records continue to topple like never before, often dramatically shattering previous records. So-called unprecedented events are becoming common, happening back-to-back, not decades apart. Our “Goldilocks” weather is not so sure any more with conditions being either too hot or too cold and too wet or too dry.
Environment Canada
Although the COVID-19 pandemic has been a threat to Canadians’ safety throughout 2020, the impacts of a changing climate have likewise been a risk.
From destructive hailstorms to powerful tornadoes, 2020 brought a year of extreme weather events across the country. According to Environment Canada, scientists have made a clear link between climate change and extreme weather events.
“So-called unprecedented events are becoming common, happening back-to-back, not decades apart,” the federal weather authority said. “Exceptional weather which we thought was futuristic is occurring here and now.”
“It is playing out in our backyards, in our communities, and in our country.”