The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
An analysis of 30 years of weather data for Canada's 100 largest cities found that the sunniest city is Medicine Hat and the wettest is Prince Rupert. Whitehorse is the driest, Kamloops has the warmest summers, and the 'city for all seasons' is Montreal, according to new findings released by Environment Canada. "The study analyzes 72 categories of weather and ranks Canada's cities according to their most notable weather features," says Environment Canada meteorologist David Phillips. "Most communities have something they can either brag about or curse." The data analyzed by Environment Canada comes from the National Climate Data Archive, a new Web site launched recently. This Web site consists of a collection of over 200 million weather observations from over 7,000 sites, some dating as far back as 1840. The analysis provides a wealth of information, which will not only make for interesting dinner conversations, but also will be of assistance to local governments, the tourism and recreation industry, and those seeking weather havens for retirement or health purposes. Some highlights: The windiest and foggiest city is St. John's, Newfoundland Windsor has several firsts as well, namely in humidity, thunderstorms and haze. Two cities are tied for the most comfortable climate in the country; Victoria and Nanaimo, B.C. These two locations have the best combination of 23 categories of 'comfortable' weather, including mild winters, abundant sunshine, little fog, light winds, low humidity. St. John's and Gander, Newfoundland, are tied for the toughest weather. These communities were ranked on 13 categories of 'tough?' weather, including foggiest, snowiest, windiest and the most freezing rain. Yellowknife, Timmins and Val D'Or were next. Montreal has lots of variety, but few extremes, so is considered the 'quintessential' Canadian weather city, followed closely by Fredericton and Kingston. Yellowknife was declared the Canadian weather champion, placing first in 12 of the 72 weather categories.
