Manitoba wildfires, Arctic Ocean storm among Canada’s top weather events for 2025

By Canadian Press on December 18, 2025.

Spring wildfires that forced more than 32,000 Manitobans to flee their homes are among Environment Canada’s top 10 weather events of the year.

The agency says a summer storm surge that flooded the northern hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., also made the list.

This list also includes heat waves, thunderstorms and memorable snowstorms.

Manitoba’s plight was the centrepiece of what the agency calls Canada’s second-worst wildfire year on record.

The blazes also wreaked havoc in neighbouring Saskatchewan, destroying half the village of Denare Beach on the boundary with Manitoba.

The agency also says 2025 saw drought conditions worsen across much of the country.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 18, 2025.

Dayne Patterson, The Canadian Press