Wildfires, drought and storms top Canada's top weather stories of 2025

surround and mood commute Canada's lean of the top out 10 weather stories of the year covers the country from coast to coast to coast.

The federal department has been releasing the list since 1996, usually highlighting extreme weather events that affected Canadians. The events in the 2025 list released on Thursday aren’t listed in any particular order.

“This year had it all,” Jennifer Smith, a national warning preparedness meteorologist for Environment and Climate Change Canada, said during a media conference.

But in the 30-year history of the list, Smith said, “one thing hasn’t changed: the resilience of Canadians.”

One story on this year's list was Canada’s second-worst wildfire season on record. In 2025, more than 8.9 million hectares burned. This follows 2023’s deadly and tragic wildfires that burned 16.1 million hectares. 

During the 2025 wildfire season, more than 75,000 people were forced to leave their homes. Of those people, nearly three out of every five were from First Nation communities. 

Those most affected were in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, where massive wildfires not only spread, but also merged. Almost nowhere in Canada was spared from the smoke.

What also contributed to these wildfires was a drought that was felt across the country. By the end of September, the Canadian Drought Monitor reported that 85 per cent of Canada was experiencing abnormally dry conditions or drought. That included roughly 76 per cent of the country’s agricultural land.

That is nothing new for those in the West, particularly in British Columbia, where the drought that began in 2021 just got worse.

But Ontario also experienced drought conditions in the summer, particularly in eastern Ontario. Boats became stuck in the St. Lawrence River as water levels dropped. Apple-picking season and pumpkin season suffered.

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When it seemed like summer was winding down in August, Western Canada had a surprise waiting for it. 

In late August and early September, temperatures in B.C. Soared. From Aug. 22 to Sept. 8, more than 200 daily maximum temperature records were set in the province.

In Lytton, B.C. — the town that was razed to the ground in 2021 with wildfires and where a national temperature record was set that same year — temperatures reached 40 C or higher for for days in a row, from Aug. 24-27.

But it was Ashcroft that set a new September record for not only the province but also the country, were the mercury soared to 40.8 C on Sept. 3.

At the end of August, Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., experienced an intense flooding event, as a powerful low-pressure system descended on the coastal community.

On Aug. 30, the system that formed off the Beaufort Sea moved eastward, bringing strong winds and heavy rainfall over many communities in the region.

Winds of 70 km/h or higher slammed into Tuktoyaktuk for almost six hours. And those winds caused storm surge, at one point of 2.62 metres, the highest ever recorded in the hamlet.

These are just some of the top 10 stories. For more — including devastating Prairie summer storms, snowstorms in central and eastern Canada and an ice storm that paralyzed parts of Ontario — you can visit Environment and Climate Change Canada's website.

Senior Science Reporter

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