Canadian Hurricane Centre

The Canadian Hurricane Centre (CHC) is a division of the Meteorological Service of Canada, an agency of Canada's Department of the Environment, which exists to advise Canadians on the threat of tropical cyclones such as hurricanes and tropical storms. CHC serves to provide guidance to MSC's weather centres in eastern and Atlantic Canada, and is based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. CHC frequently consults with its United States counterpart, the National Hurricane Center in Miami, to coordinate the tracks and positions of all storms that pose a threat to Canada. While hurricanes are relatively uncommon in Canada, they do approach or strike from time to time. Among recent occurrences are Hurricane Bob, which struck Campobello Island, New Brunswick, in 1991, Hurricane Luis which struck Newfoundland in September 1995, Hurricane Hortense which struck Nova Scotia in September 1996, Hurricane Michael which struck Newfoundland in October 2000, and Hurricane Juan, which struck Nova Scotia in September 2003. Also of note due to its rarity and the damage caused is Hurricane Hazel which hit Toronto, Ontario in 1954, which remained a strong storm even after crossing over the U.S. East Coast states.

It was Hurricane Juan and its damage which prompted the MSC to create the CHC. Its first hurricane warnings were issued in 2008 for Hurricane Kyle, which struck near Yarmouth, Nova Scotia on September 28, 2008, and quickly became extratropical while maintaining much of its strength into New Brunswick and Labrador.

External links

* [http://www.ns.ec.gc.ca/weather/hurricane/index_e.html CHC website]
* [http://www.weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca/warnings/warnings_e.html Official Canadian weather warnings]
* [http://www.ns.ec.gc.ca/weather/hurricane/mobile_e.html Hurricane bulletins for wireless devices]