On the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia, 2025 offered a few surprises (some positive, some not so much). Here are some of the key elements.
Most notably, we lacked any landfalls during the hurricane season. We experienced two near misses that could have been significant (given their strength as they passed). Most of the storms, however, seemed to pass to the east of us. The Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland, however, was not as fortunate.
Dominant Factors
Our dominant weather-related incidents can be characterized as follows:
- Severe wind events: these resulted in several power outages, disruptions to transportation networks (air and ferry), and some localized damage.
- Severe rainfalls: these fall into two subcategories. The first involves the amount of rainfall. In these cases, this could lead to localized flooding, raised water levels, etc. The rate of rainfall represents the second. These events can lead to washouts and water drainage systems being overwhelmed.
- Drought: This year marked several months of lower-than-expected rainfall that led to water shortfalls.While water shortfalls and dried wells were well-reported, the lower rainfalls are likely to affect agriculture.
Key Considerations for Planners
For those involved in planning projects, the lack of landfalls in 2025 should not be considered the norm. Further, high ocean temperatures allowed our two “near misses” to maintain their strength further north.
High wind events occur outside of the hurricane season (01 June to 30 Nov). While the hurricane season provides one set of boundaries, wind gusts on my weather station were significant.
Rainfall and flooding continue be a factor that will require both careful siting (away from areas susceptible to flooding) and drainage.
The drought conditions should raise flags about water availability, particularly for industries (such as data centres) that require high volumes of water for cooling.
Alternate Energy Notes
While the solar panels did well this year (generating around 15.950 kW/h for the year), two factors contributed most significantly. First, the lack of major fall storms (hurricane landfalls) meant that there were no longer periods where the panels were unable to generate and feed back to the grid. Second, the summer months lack of cloudy days meant that while we suffered drought, it did have a fringe benefit for solar generating. That being said, there’s a balance to be maintained.
While solar panels may be the most readily accessible renewable energy source for homes (including cottages), they are seasonal. This means that if you are going to consider going off grid, you will need to look at the challenge of how to generate enough electricity in the winter or somehow store it. Shorter days and poorer weather would likely result in the need for a second source (such as wind) or a grid hookup, especially if you are on electrical heating.
Official Messages
The Government of Nova Scotia published its 2025 Climate Risk Assessment. It can be found on the Climate Change website at https://climatechange.novascotia.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/climate-change-risk–assessment-2025.pdf