The Senior Climatologist with Environment Canada says it is a list you normally want no part of. He calls it the worst dressed list, not the best dressed list. David Phillips is referring to his annual list of Top Weather Stories.

After compiling the list, Phillips says there have been more expensive years, there have certainly been more destructive years, but he doubts there has ever been a year where major weather events impacted so many people.

According to Phillips, the top weather story for 2020 was the billion dollar hailstorm in Calgary on June 13th. He notes that storm wrote-off more cars in the city in eleven minutes than what is sold in that entire province in a year.

Number two on his list is the smoky conditions in British Columbia, which had an impact on Manitoba.

"We saw some blood red sunsets, quite picturesque at times," says Phillips. "It did drop temperatures by about six degrees in Manitoba during that week of September."

When reflecting on the top weather stories for Manitoba in 2020, Phillips says the year started on a bitter cold note. During the middle of January, the polar vortex arrived, producing wind chills of -45 degrees in Steinbach.

Phillips says what followed was a frigid spring. He recalls April felt more like winter, with the average temperature being nearly five degrees colder than normal. He recalls the temperature falling to -17 degrees at times and with 30 centimetres of snow. This left farmers wondering if they would ever get onto their fields.

Another wild weather event happened in June in western Manitoba when monsoon-type rains deluged the Brandon area. Phillips says about 150 millimetres of rain fell in about 11 hours. With over 200 millimetres of rain that month, Phillips says it ended up being the wettest month on record for Brandon.

(Photo credit: Environment Canada)Phillips says one of the most tragic weather events of 2020 was the deadly tornado south of Virden on August 7th. This ended up being the most powerful tornado in Canada this year. He notes the EF-3 tornado reached wind speeds of about 265 kilometres per hour, tracking along the ground for 11 kilometres. Not only did it do damage but Phillips says it also lifted a pickup truck and tossed it to the ground one kilometre away, killing two people inside. This tornado was considered the deadliest one in Canada in 11 years.

And finally, Phillips says one of the top weather stories for Manitoba in 2020 might have been the endless hot summer. He notes Steinbach had 20 days where the temperature soared above 30 degrees. In a normal summer, Steinbach will get 12 or 13 of those days.