The summer storm that hit Newfoundland with 100+ mm of rain
Tropical Storm Chantal was the only system to affect Canada during the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season
Newfoundland is no stranger to tropical trouble during the summer months.
One particularly feisty storm clipped the island to kick off August 2007 with some of the region’s heaviest summertime rainfall in years.
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The 2007 Atlantic hurricane season was dominated by a series of relatively weak and short-lived storms throughout the basin.
Hurricane Dean and Hurricane Felix were two glaring exceptions, both of which reached scale-topping Category 5 status before lashing Central America within two weeks of one another.
But first, there was Chantal.
The small and short-lived storm lost its tropical characteristics before arriving in southeastern Newfoundland late on July 31. Despite its transition, the storm packed a mean punch by drenching the region with wind-driven rains through the following day.
Chantal brought St. John’s its heaviest summertime rainfall in six years when the storm swept the region, according to the Canadian Hurricane Centre. St. John’s Airport picked up 97 mm of rain through Aug. 1, with as much as 150 mm of rain just west in Whitbourne.
Winds gusted as high as 88 km/h on the southern tip of the Avalon Peninsula, with offshore waves reportedly cresting as high as 6 metres.