Severe drought in the Maritimes makes list of top 10 weather stories of 2025 in Canada

Cracks are shown in the dry ground of a hay field on a farm in Hamilton, Ont., Wednesday, June 7, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

It was the weather talk of the summer in the Maritimes – an extended period of drought that, in some cases, was a one-in-50-year event. Impacts included water restrictions, dry wells, and stress to agricultural crops.

In their top ten weather stories of 2025, Environment Canada noted the rapid onset of severe drought for the Maritimes through the summer months. The weather agency noted the communities of Amherst, N.S., Truro, N.S., Greenwood, N.S., and Summerside, P.E.I., had their driest July through September on record. Moncton, N.B., and Saint John, N.B., recorded their second-driest summer, and Halifax, N.S., its third driest.

Other Atlantic Canada mentions in the list include:

• The prolonged period of extreme fire danger in August due to the dry conditions and the large wildfires in Newfoundland. The wildfires contributed to the country’s second-worst wildfire year on record.
• A set of three winter storms that brought high snow totals to parts of northern New Brunswick during the period of Feb. 8 to 15.
• A powerful November nor-easter that, while mostly missing the Maritimes, landed squarely in Newfoundland. A gust of 172 km/h recorded at Cape St. Mary’s and a new record set for low barometric pressure for the province at 944.7 millibars were among the many impacts included.

The full list of weather stories can be found in a news release from Environment Canada.