Atmospheric Hazards - Prairie and Northern Region

pnr.hazards.ca

Welcome to the Prairie and Northern Region
Atmospheric Hazards Website

Provincial and territorial emergency legislation in Prairie and Northern Region (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Northwest Territories and Nunavut) identifies the need to produce emergency management plans. In order to create effective plans, decision makers must be aware of the types of atmospheric hazards their jurisdictions are at risk for, and understand the climatology of these events.

Prairie and Northern Region (PNR) encompasses more than 50 percent of Canada's landmass. The landscape is diverse and spans many eco-climatic regimes including the Grasslands zone in the south, the Boreal, the Sub-Arctic, and Arctic regime in the North.

A variety of weather extremes impact this region throughout the year. Severe thunderstorms occur during the summer with a high frequency over the prairies. Weather phenomena associated with these storms include large hail, heavy rainfalls, lightning, flooding, tornadoes and other damaging winds. All of these phenomena exact heavy annual tolls in crop, infrastructure and other property damage, and all too often in human lives. The Pine Lake Tornado of July 14, 2000 in Central Alberta resulted in 140 injuries, 12 fatalities and $13 million in damages. The impacts and economic losses due to drought on the Prairies in the agricultural, environmental and hydroelectric sectors are significant.

The Northern region is often subjected to storms in the fall and winter seasons giving rise to strong winds that can be channelled by local topographic features, to heavy precipitation that can be in various types, and to hazardous blowing snow and low visibilities. Winter ice roads are critical links to the south for communities and mine and exploration sites. Shorter winter road seasons due to climate change will impact the transportation of construction equipment, and goods such as food and fuel.

The Atmospheric Hazards portal for Prairie and Northern Region (PNR) was developed by Environment Canada's Adaptation and Impacts Research Section and the PNR Sciences Section. The site was developed to assist municipal, provincial and territorial governments in identifying and assessing their atmospheric hazards for emergency planning. To begin exploring the data, choose one of the hazards on the left menu or choose a specific site by clicking here.