The Top 10 of Everything

[Glacier]

I don't know if anyone else has the book of the same title, but I like it better than the Guinness Book of World Records.

Make your own list, and add it to this thread.


10 LARGEST EARTHQUAKES IN CANADA (since seismic records began)

Code: Select all

      Date        Time      Lat.      Long.   Magnitude   Location
1   22-Aug-1949   4:01:12   53.6     -133.3   8.1    Queen Charlotte Islands
2   27-Oct-2012   20:04     52.769   -131.9   7.7    Haida Gwaii Islands region 
                                                   (Formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands)
3   24-Jun-1970   13:09:08  51.8     -130.8   7.4    Queen Charlotte Islands
4   20-Nov-1933   23:21:32  73       -70.75   7.3-7.4 Baffin Bay (Nunavut)
5   23-Jun-1946   17:13:26  49.8     -125.3   7.3    Vancouver Island
6   06-Dec-1918   8:41:08   49.4     -126.2   7.2    Vancouver Island
7   18-Nov-1929   20:32:00  44.5     -56.3    7.2    Grand Banks of Newfoundland
8   28-Feb-1979   13:27     60.6     -141.5   7.2    Southern Yukon-Alaska Border
9   26-May-1929   22:39:54  51.51    -130.74  7      South of Queen Charlotte Islands
10  23-Dec-1985   23:16     62.19    -124.24  6.9    The Nahanni region (NWT)

                  

[Glacier]

Top 10 warmest places in the BC Interior (1981-2010 climate normals)

City/location (Average Annual Temperature)

1. OSOYOOS WEST (10.4°C)
2. OLIVER STP (10.3°C)
3. LYTTON (10.3°C)
4. BOSTON BAR (10.2°C) *
5. LILLOOET (10.1°C)
6. SPENCES BRIDGE NICOLA (10.1°C)
7. OLIVER (10.1°C)
8. SHALALTH (9.9°C)
9. PEACHLAND (9.9°C)
10. PEACHLAND GREATA RANCH (9.9°C)

* Whether or not Boston Bar is interior or coastal is debatable.

[WeatherWoman]

I like it but I think you might be too nerdy for Castanet.

[Glacier]

10 largest rivers in Canada...

P.S. there are 5 rivers in Canada that are larger than the Nile!

[Lady tehMa]

I like it but I think you might be too nerdy for Castanet.

Never!

Glace, do waterfalls in Canada next . . .

[Glacier]

Glace, do waterfalls in Canada next . . .

That's trickier than you think. How do we define a waterfall's height, and more importantly, how do we define a waterfall? There are waterfalls on the rugged BC coast (many without names) that fall 2,000 or more feet. I count 43 1,000 or more feet tall.

In addition, are we talking vertical free-fall, or the total summation of a set of cascading falls?

Lists of the tallest falls tend to measure the height of the largest drop. For example, Takakkaw Falls has 4 separate drops for a total vertical difference of 302m, however, the height of the largest drop is 260m, which is the number that should be used when comparing waterfall heights.

Natural Resources Canada has a list of the tallest waterfalls in Canada with the tallest being Della Falls on Vancouver Island. This is untrue in every sense of the definition. Not only is their number calculated by adding up a bunch of cascades, there are many free-falling waterfalls on the coast that measure much higher.

Whenever they talk about the tallest waterfalls in Canada, they are really talking about the tallest a selected list. Waterfalls with seasonal flows, low volumes, and/or remote locations might not be considered for such lists.

The two tallest waterfalls in Canada that count are Hunlen Falls and Takakkaw Falls, but since their height estimates have margins of error, it's not entirely clear which one of these is taller.

Takakkaw Falls does not truly free-fall at 90 degrees like Hunlen Falls and Helmcken Falls do, though it's steep enough to fall. Many falls are also like this, banging against the rock wall on the way down.

The following table shows the 10 "tallest" waterfalls along with Niagara Falls for reference.

[Lady tehMa]

Very cool! Thx for providing the links, that was a bit of fun browsing . . .

[French Castanut]

St. Lawrence is not a river. It's bigger than a river... We have a proper term for it "fleuve". And it's from far the largest one too. It can be over 100km wide in some areas. I'm sure the McKenzie can't beat that.

And according to Wikipedia, Mackenzie averages 9900m3/sec, as st lawrence is about 16,800m3/sec on average:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackenzie_River
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Lawrence_River

As for your graph being "discharge within Canada".. well, from Lake Ontario to Chateauguay it shares a shore with the US, but that water discharges 100% in the atlantic Ocean, in Canada.

[Glacier]

And according to Wikipedia, Mackenzie averages 9900m3/sec, as st lawrence is about 16,800m3/sec on average:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackenzie_River
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Lawrence_River

According to other sources though, the MacKenzie is larger...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rivers_by_length
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ri ... _discharge

River discharge is like the tallest waterfalls, largest and oldest tree, etc. in that difference sources give difference answers. I used the numbers I think are the most accurate, though I haven't delved much into which is truly more accurate. I can tell you one thing with a high degree of certainty though: the Saint Lawrence is much smaller than 16,800m3/sec. We are talking a volume as large as the Mississippi with that number.

I am fully aware that 100% of the Saint Lawrence River is discharged into Canada, unlike the Yukon and Columbia.

ETA: upon further research, the Saint Lawrence River is larger, though you are counting all the rivers flowing into the tidal/salt water portion of the river for the Saint Lawrence. If you measure the rivers upstream of the tidal influences, then the MacKenzie is larger.

[Glacier]

10 coldest temperatures ever recorded in Canada (one per town):

1) -63.9°C (-83°F) at Snag, Yukon, 1947
2) -62.2°C (-80°F) at Mayo, Yukon, 1947
3) -60.6°C (-77°F) at Fort Vermilion, Alberta, 1911
4) -60.0°C (-76°F) at Pelly Ranch, Yukon, 1968
5) -59.4°C (-75°F) at Ross River, Yukon, 1968 & 1975

at Old Crow, Yukon, 1975
at Fort Resolution, Northwest Territories, 1936
8) -58.9°C (-74°F) at Watson Lake, Yukon, 1947

at Smith River, British Columbia, 1947
10) -58.3°C (-73°F) at Dawson, Yukon, 1947

at Iroquois Falls, Ontario, 1935

Note: Only the coldest temperature for each town is utilized. Otherwise, Snag, Pelly Ranch, and Ross River would be shown multiple times.

[Glacier]

10 driest inhabited places in Canada (based on average annual precipitation).

1. Cambridge Bay, Nunavut (139 mm/year)
2. Sachs Harbour, Northwest Territories (149 mm/year)
3. Resolute Bay, Nunavut (150 mm/year)
4. Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories (162 mm/year)
5. Tuktoyuktuk, Northwest Territories (168 mm/year)
6. Pond Inlet, Nunavut (190.8 mm/year)
7. Ashcroft, British Columbia (210 mm/year)
8. Hall Beach, Nunavut (217 mm/year)
9. Clyde River, Nunavut (233 mm/year)
10. Inuvik, Northwest Territories (248 mm/year)

A graph showing the driest inhabited places in Canada.

A larger graph showing uninhabited places as well.

** edited to include Resolute. Note that there are other dry spots up north such as Grise Fiord, but they lack long term weather stations.

[Glacier]

What are the TALLEST MOUNTAINS IN THE WORLD, you ask?

Why, I'm glad you asked, but since the 100+ tallest mountains in the world are all in the same part of the world, I'm going to bring it closer to home. The top 18 tallest mountains in Canada are in the Saint Elias Mountains including the tallest in BC, Fairweather Mountain. Only 4 of the top 30 tallest are outside of the Saint Elias Mountains (Waddington [19th] and Tiedemann [25th] in the Coast Mountains), and Robson [21st] and Columbia [28th] in the Rockies).

The name on the top is Canada, and the name on the bottom is BC.

Since there is more to a mountain than it's point above sea level, other methods are been tried to define a mountain's height. One way of doing this is to measure from the base of the mountain to the mountain. By doing this, Mount Everest would definitely not be the tallest in the world. The tallest would most likely be Mount McKinley, Mount Kilimanjaro and Nanga Parbat, but there is not a scientifically consistent formula here.

This lead to prominence, which is definable. Mountains in Canada and even BC are some of the most prominent in the world. Mount Logan in the Yukon is the 6th most prominent mountain in the world. In BC, Fairweather Mountain (situated on the Alaska border) is the 26th most prominent in the world, and Mount Waddington is the 63rd most prominent peak.

Notice that 6 of the 10 most prominent peaks in Canada are in BC.

Another term used to describe mountains is isolation (the distance away from closest taller peak). Mount Tiedemann, one of the tallest peaks in BC, only has 3km of isolation while Barbeau Peak in Nunavut has 623 km of isolation.

[Glacier]

Here is the Google map showing the location of the 100 tallest peaks in Canada (with at least 500m of prominence). Click an icon to for the name and elevation.

[Glacier]

Top 10 Snowiest Februarys in Canadian History. Notice that 5 of them occurred in 1999, and that all 10 of them occurred in BC.

Prov-----Stn Name--------------------------------------------Year-------Snowfall (cm)

1. BC-----MT WASHINGTON RESORT--------------------1999-------689.5
2. BC-----MT WASHINGTON UPPER----------------------1999-------648
3. BC-----KEMANO KILDALA PASS----------------------1954-------514.5
4. BC-----CYPRESS BOWL UPPER------------------------1999-------506.5
5. BC-----TAHTSA LAKE WEST----------------------------1999-------487.5
6. BC-----GALORE CREEK------------------------------------1967-------481.3
7. BC-----GLACIER----------------------------------------------1954-------463.9
8. BC-----REVELSTOKE MT COPELAND----------------1972-------453.9
9. BC-----MT WASHINGTON UPPER----------------------1998-------448
10. BC-----WHISTLER ROUNDHOUSE----------------------1999-------443

[Glacier]

The 10 largest forest fires in U.S. History:

Fire Name --------Year---States-------------------------Size (acres)
Peshtigo-----------1871---Wisconsin and Michigan---3.78 million
Lower Michigan--1881----Michigan---------------------2.5 million
Great Fire ---------1845----Oregon----------------------1.5 million
Yacoult-------------1902----Washington/Oregon------1 million +
Adirondack--------1903-----New York-------------------637,000
Inowak--------------1997----Alaska-----------------------610,000
Boundary------------2004---Alaska-----------------------537,098
Minto Flats South--2009---Alaska-----------------------517,078
Biscuit---------------2002---Oregon-----------------------499,570