Tag Archives: Mega-drought

Disaster, Environment, Weather

FOCI’s Climate Change and Drought Report

When the rain finally started about 5 PM on Sunday, October 23, Cortes Island had received almost no precipitation for 97 days. The “Rain’ chart at Cortes Island School shows that 3.5 mm of rain fell overnight and I can hear the drizzle continuing to fall on my roof early Monday morning. Hopefully light rains will continue to soften up the soil before we receive a downpour.

“The 2022 drought is worse than people think, it’s worse than scientists predicted, and its impacts up and down the coast are a lot worse than I had even feared when I started researching it,” said Forrest Berman-Hatch, author of FOCI Report: Climate Change and Drought.

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Environment, Water

Cortes Island’s impending water shortage

Cortes Island is experiencing a wetter than normal Spring this year, but some of Cortes Island’s shallow well owners experience water shortages every summer. Scientists appear to agree that there will be more severe shortages in the future. 

This is a global phenomenon and there appear to be many causes: the depletion of forest coverage, growth of human infrastructure, natural drought cycles and, on top of all that, the transition to a warmer global temperature.

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Environment

Canadian media needs to pay more attention to the climate crisis, Sean Holman says

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Climate change is the largest and most impactful story on the globe, yet Canadian media in particular has done an inadequate job in covering the issue, one expert says.

Continue reading Canadian media needs to pay more attention to the climate crisis, Sean Holman says →
Water

In a level four drought, what lies ahead?

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CKTZ News, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Cortes Island is in the midst of a level four drought. 

There have been worse dry periods in the instrumental records, much worse according to a University of Victoria study of tree ring data, and most likely more severe droughts in the years to come.

“Summer is very typically a very dry time of year for the Island, as well as for the Gulf Islands. The problem is that because we didn’t get the Spring rains, we’re starting at a level that is lower than what it would be within a typical year,”  said Ashlee Jollymore, a Hydrologist with the Water Management Branch in Victoria

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Indigenous Nations, Weather

Drastic droughts on the horizon, if syilx laws not upheld

By Kelsie Kilawna, The Discourse, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

As devastating wildfires spread through B.C.’s interior, skawilx (Sarah Alexis) says there’s a parallel crisis that demands attention and action — droughts. 

Continue reading Drastic droughts on the horizon, if syilx laws not upheld →