Photo: Dennis G. Jarvis · CC BY-SA 2.0Flood mapping exists for Musquodoboit Harbour: 1 on record, latest by Halifax Regional Municipality
Fire seldom reaches Musquodoboit Harbour: since 1986, 1.3% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.03% a year). Seismic risk in Musquodoboit Harbour sits near the middle: $0.018 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, 13% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Musquodoboit Harbour grades B− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Musquodoboit Harbour’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Musquodoboit Harbour: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Musquodoboit Harbour faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Musquodoboit Harbour: B−
Earthquake risk and radon make Musquodoboit Harbour’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #47 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #1,724 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Musquodoboit Harbour has burned: 0% within 5 km, 1.3% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Musquodoboit Harbour’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Fire claims 0.03% of the land around Musquodoboit Harbour each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
About as much forest grows next to Musquodoboit Harbour’s homes (95% within 5 km) as across 25 km (92%).
Shares of land within 5 and 25 km of populated blocks: burned at least once in 1986–2025 (CWFIS burned-area composite), forest fuel and grass (fire behaviour fuel types, 2026, 250 m grid).
Burn rate a year, towns in Nova Scotia · highest of 90
Musquodoboit Harbour burns at 0.03% a year, 33rd of 90 towns in Nova Scotia; the leader, Barrington, reaches 0.46%.
Each bar: the yearly average share of land within 25 km of a town’s homes that burned, 1986–2025 (CWFIS); the seven highest towns of 2,500 people or more.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Musquodoboit Harbour burns, but slower than in the 7.5% above it.
Bands of the yearly burn rate: low under 0.05%, moderate under 0.25%, high under 1%, very high 1% or more; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Canadian Wildland Fire Information System: National Burned Area Composite 1986–2025 and fire behaviour fuel types (2026), Natural Resources Canada. Measured within 25 km and 5 km of each populated dissemination area; past fire, not a forecast.
Halifax Regional Municipality has mapped flooding for Musquodoboit Harbour (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Musquodoboit Harbour: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The flood study touching Musquodoboit Harbour is Halifax Regional Municipality’s, dated 2024; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Creation of Coastal, Pluvial, Fluvial Flood Hazard Maps for Halifax Regional Municipality | Halifax Regional Municipality | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Musquodoboit Harbour is one of the 88% of towns in Nova Scotia with a flood study on file; across Canada it is 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Musquodoboit Harbour.
The inventory’s own caution (NRCan): “The Canada Flood Map (CFM) does not include every flood hazard map in Canada and may be incomplete or contain inaccuracies. It should not be relied upon as the official source of flood mapping information. Furthermore, if a map appears to be missing, this does not necessarily mean that the area has never been mapped. For the official version of a map, updated information, or confirmation of applicable regulations, please contact the local authority responsible for flood mapping.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Musquodoboit Harbour $0.018 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.6 times the typical $0.030: Musquodoboit Harbour’s $0.018 is ordinary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Nova Scotia is $0.018; Musquodoboit Harbour, at $0.018, is right beside it, and Clare tops the list at $0.034.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
68% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Musquodoboit Harbour.
Each column: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more in that range of yearly loss per $1,000 (NRCan, 2022).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Musquodoboit Harbour’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Earthquake risk published for the city of Halifax, not by town
Test for radon in Musquodoboit Harbour: 13% of area homes were over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Zone 6 health region: radon tests
Musquodoboit Harbour’s survey area reads 13% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Ordinary for towns in Nova Scotia at 13% over 200 Bq/m³ (13% is the median), the area around Musquodoboit Harbour had 1% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Musquodoboit Harbour among them; 4.6% rank above.
Each bar: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more whose survey area had that share of tests over 200 Bq/m³.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Musquodoboit Harbour can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Musquodoboit Harbour
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Musquodoboit Harbour; Alert Ready carries the urgent ones to phones, radio and TV.
| Alert | What it means |
|---|---|
| Warning | Severe weather is happening or about to: act now. |
| Watch | Conditions favour severe weather: be ready. |
| Advisory | Weather that is less severe but could disrupt the day. |
| Special weather statement | Unusual weather worth knowing about. |
| Special air quality statement | Poor air, often wildfire smoke. |
For fires near Musquodoboit Harbour, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Musquodoboit Harbour’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Musquodoboit Harbour | Low | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Gaetz Brook 4,473 · 9.8 km | Low | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| East Lawrencetown 4,020 · 14 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Meaghers Grant 3,430 · 17 km | Low | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Lake Echo 5,223 · 19 km | Low | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
East Lawrencetown has the most fire around it, a moderate band against Musquodoboit Harbour’s low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Musquodoboit Harbour faces
Practical steps for Musquodoboit Harbour’s hazards, most pressing first.
- Test for three months in winter.
- Over 200 Bq/m³: fix it.
- Kits are cheap; pros test too.
- Never drive through floodwater.
- Move papers and medicines upstairs.
- Ask whether your street is mapped.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Musquodoboit Harbour.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Musquodoboit Harbour’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Musquodoboit Harbour’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Musquodoboit Harbour takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Musquodoboit Harbour
How is Musquodoboit Harbour’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Musquodoboit Harbour B−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Musquodoboit Harbour?
The area’s survey found 13% of 101 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Musquodoboit Harbour.
Is Musquodoboit Harbour at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Musquodoboit Harbour’s low band (1.3% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
Does Musquodoboit Harbour flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Musquodoboit Harbour; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Musquodoboit Harbour?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Musquodoboit Harbour’s buildings lose $0.018 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Seismic risk: Natural Resources Canada. Radon: Health Canada. Wildfire: Canadian Wildland Fire Information System. Flood studies: Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
Sources: NRCan, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model 2022 · Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes · CWFIS, National Burned Area Composite and FBP fuel types · NRCan, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).