Moncton

Moncton is a Canadian city in Westmorland County, New Brunswick.

The city is situated in southeastern New Brunswick, in the Petitcodiac River valley about 55 km (34 mi) from the Nova Scotia border, at the geographic center of the Maritime Provinces. The community has the nickname "Hub City" because of its central location and also because Moncton has historically been the railway and land transportation hub for the Maritime Provinces.[6]

European settlement began in 1733 when Acadian farmers arrived after migrating up the Petitcodiac River from the Bay of Fundy. The region was captured by the English in 1755 and the Acadian inhabitants were subsequently deported. The official founding of the community was in 1766, with the arrival of Pennsylvania "Deutsch" settlers sponsored by the Philadelphia Land Company. The settlement was initially agricultural but by the mid 1800s, a wooden shipbuilding industry flourished. The shipbuilding economy collapsed in the 1860s but was quickly replaced by the railway industry when, in 1871, the Intercolonial Railway of Canada chose Moncton to be their headquarters. Moncton would then remain a railroad town for well over a century.

Moncton was first incorporated in 1855 and was named after Lt. Col. Robert Monckton, the British military commander who had captured nearby Fort BeausÐ"©jour in 1755 and who had later been given responsibility for overseeing the Acadian deportation.[6] The collapse of the shipbuilding industry caused the town to lose its civic charter in 1862 but the community was able to survive and to reincorporate in 1875 on the strength of the developing railway industry; as a result, it adopted the motto Resurgo.

Although Moncton was traumatized twice, by the collapse of the shipbuilding industry in the 1860s and by the closure of the CNR locomotive shops in the 1980s, the city's economy was able to rebound strongly on both occasions. At present, the city's economy is stable and diversified. Moncton's economy is based on its transportation, distribution, retailing and commercial heritage, but is also supplemented by strength in the educational, health care, financial and insurance sectors. The strength of the economy has received national recognition and the local unemployment rate is consistently less than the national average.

The Moncton Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) is one of the top ten fastest growing metropolitan areas in Canada and is also the fastest growing urban region east of Toronto. The CMA includes the neighbouring city of Dieppe and the town of Riverview, as well as adjacent areas of Westmorland and Albert counties.[7]

Moncton has a CMA population of 126,424,[4] which makes Moncton the most populous metropolitan area in New Brunswick, and also makes it the second largest CMA in the Maritime Provinces, after Halifax.[8]

The municipal coat of arms illustrates Moncton's agricultural, industrial and railway heritages, along with the Petitcodiac River's tidal bore.[9]

Moncton lies in southeastern New Brunswick, at the geographic centre of the Maritime Provinces and is located along the north bank of the Petitcodiac River at a point where the river bends from a westÐ'-east flow to a northÐ'-south direction.

Aerial photo of Metro Moncton showing "the Bend"The sharp bend of the Petitcodiac River at Moncton has strongly influenced the names given to the community by the various succeeding inhabitants living in the area.

Petitcodiac in the Mi'kmaq language has been translated as meaning "bends like a bow". The early Acadian settlers in the region named their community Le Coude which means "the elbow".[6] Subsequent English immigrants changed the name of the settlement to The Bend of the Petitcodiac.

Moncton lies at the original head of navigation on the Petitcodiac River, however a causeway to Riverview, constructed in 1968, resulted in extensive infilling by sedimentation of the river channel downstream. Because of this, the river in the Moncton area is no longer navigable.[6]

The Petitcodiac river valley at Moncton (50 kilometres inland) is broad and relatively flat, bounded by a long ridge to the north (Lutes Mountain) and by the rugged Caledonia Highlands to the south.

[edit] Climate

Despite being less than 50 km (31 mi) from the Bay of Fundy and less than 30 km (19 mi) from the Northumberland Strait, the climate can seem more continental than maritime during the summer and winter seasons, whereas maritime influences tend to temper the transitional seasons of spring and autumn.[10]

Moncton skyline in the summerWinter days are cold but generally sunny with solar radiation generating some warmth. Daytime high temperatures usually range just below the freezing point. Several cold snaps usually occur each winter when temperatures can fall to between -15 Ð'oC (5 Ð'oF) and -25 Ð'oC (-13 Ð'oF). Similarly, there are usually one or two "January thaws" each year when considerable snow melt can occur. Major snowfalls can result from nor'easter ocean storms moving up the east coast of North America, following the jet stream from the southeastern United States.[11] Large amounts of precipitation can result from the counterclockwise rotation of these storms picking up moisture from the Atlantic Ocean and dumping it on southeastern New Brunswick as the storms pass by to the south and east of the region.[11] This can be amplified locally by "sea effect" snow squall activity due to northeasterly winds passing over the nearby Gulf of St. Lawrence on the trailing edge of the storm. In February 1992, a nor'Easter lasted for two days and dropped 162 cm (65 inches) of snow on the Moncton area, paralyzing the city for nearly a week. Major snowfalls more typically average 20Ð'-30 cm (8Ð'-12 in) and are frequently mixed with rain or freezing rain.

Autumn in MonctonSpring is frequently delayed because the sea ice that forms in the nearby Gulf of St. Lawrence during the previous winter requires time to melt and this cools the prevailing onshore winds. The ice burden in the gulf however has diminished considerably over the course of the last decade, which may be a consequence of global warming.[12] The springtime cooling effect has subsequently weakened. Daytime temperatures above freezing are typical by mid March. Occasional snowfalls in late April and early May can happen however and trees are not usually in full leaf until the end of May.[13]

Summers