NatCat events in Canada expected to increase by 2050: climate change research

Lightning-caused wildfires in western Canada, intense winter storms in B.C., freezing rain events in Ontario and Quebec and intense hurricane events in Eastern Canada are all expected to increase by 2050, based on climate change research posted online by the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction.
James Bruce produced a paper, Climate change information for adaptation: Climate trends and projected values for Canada 2010 to 2050, as part of the ICLR’s Research Paper Series.
The 56-page paper breaks down Canada by geographical regions and discusses the anticipated effects of climate change in each area in a table format.
In its notes for the B.C. and northern Saskatchewan/Alberta areas, the paper notes approximately 80% of fires are set by lightning. “Lightning-caused fires are projected to increase globally by 44% by 2100,” the paper notes.
Also, in the northern Saskatchewan/Manitoba areas, regionally more than 400,000 hectares burned between 1959 and 1997. Wildfires are expected to burn 50% more area than this by the end of 2050, according to the paper.
Intense winter storms are anticipated to be 8% to 15% more frequent in B.C., Ontario and Quebec by 2050. In southern Ontario specifically, there could be a 60% to 85% increase in freezing rain events, the report notes.
As for Eastern Canada, the next 40 years could bring more frequent intense hurricane events to New Brunswick, PEI and Nova Scotia, as water temperature rises by an estimated 2 C by 2050. The “path of hurricanes unlikely to change, but more intense storms will survive the long path from source regions in southern North Atlantic,” the report notes.
The full report is available at: http://bit.ly/hX7MmC