Fort McMurray, El Nino top Canada's top weather stories for 2016

Environment Canada released its top 10 weather stories for 2016, and the year was a wild one, mostly due to El Nino.

While the average temperature across the country didn't break any records, it was unusually mild: December 2015 to November 2016 was the fourth warmest 12-month period in 70 years of record-keeping, with the temperature averaging 2.3 C higher than normal.

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The weather across the country was heavily influenced by one of the strongest El Nino events since 1950.The unusually warm water in the Pacific Ocean may have caused balmy temperatures across Canada, but it also brought drought and flooding elsewhere in the world.

Canada's top weather story, according to David Phillips, senior climatologist with Environment Canada, was the devastating Fort McMurray wildfires that forced the evacuation of 88,000 people in May. Extremely dry conditions the driest in 72 years of record-keeping together with strong winds, helped fuel the fire that eventually raged out of control.

The powerful El Nino itself also made the list, as it essentially "cancelled" winter, Phillips said. The country experienced the second-warmest winter on record, also influenced by the persistent lack of Arctic sea ice, something that also made the list.

Wild summer weather across the Prairies, a balmy Novemberand the Thanksgiving weather bomb in the Atlantic were also highlighted in this year's top 10.

1. Fort McMurray's "Fire Beast."
2. Super El Nino cancels winter.
3. August long weekend storm on the prairies.
4. A summer to remember in the east.
5. November's heat wave and December's deep freeze.
6. Arctic sea ice going, going
7. Wild summer prairie weather.
8. A tale of two springs.
9. Thanksgiving Day Atlantic weather bomb.
10. Windsor's $100 million gusher.

Phillips compiled the list based on 100 weather events from across the country and then rated each on a scale of 10 based on the degree that Canadians were affected, the area affected as well as environmental and economic impacts.

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