Friday the 13th was a strange weather day for Canada, with the provinces experiencing everything from record heat to spring snow, floods and wildfires.
In southwestern Quebec and eastern Ontario, spring stood out when the thermometer hit 30 degrees or more in cities like Ottawa and Montreal. The heat, similar to summer, has set temperature records in Montreal and the country’s capital for the past three days and is expected to continue until the weekend, with rain likely to begin on Saturday night and Sunday.
In western Canada, highways between the Lower Continent and the interior of British Columbia were designated for snow cover on Friday morning, with some mountain passes falling to 10 centimeters. On Vancouver Island, a cooler than average spring slowed the melting of snow in the mountains, raising more fears of flooding.
After heavy snowfalls and rainstorms, the floods forced more than 6,000 people to be ordered or forced to flee their homes in Manitoba and the Northwest Territories. Widespread flooding in southern Manitoba was even captured on a satellite image of NASA released on Friday, while the town of Hay River, NWT, suffered significant damage.
The floods also led to evacuations in Kenora, western Ontario, where some roads were covered with up to 50 centimeters of water on Friday.
There are also fears of localized flooding in southeastern Saskatchewan after Environment Canada issued rainfall warnings, with up to 90 millimeters expected in some areas.
Meanwhile, all of Nova Scotia was banned from burning on Friday as crews worked to contain wildfires near Halifax and Yarmouth.
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