Category Archives: Weather

Weather

Jet stream brings weather extremes to the Kootenays

By John Boivin, Valley Voice, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

It wasn’t so much the broken temperature record that excites Southeast Fire Centre Fire Weather Forecaster Jesse Ellis about December’s weather.

It was the way that the record was broken.

On Dec 1, temperatures hit +14.6C, breaking a new record for the warmest December day ever (the previous had been +12.5 in 1996). 

With the thermometer hitting -18.9C on the last day of the year, it also made for the widest coldest day-warmest day difference in December in 40 years.

Continue reading Jet stream brings weather extremes to the Kootenays →
Energy, Weather

Keeping the grid up on Cortes Island

Trying to keep the grid up has been very challenging these past three weeks. BC Hydro crews were constantly on call throughout the region, since Christmas Eve, repairing power outages caused by falling trees and snow encrusted power lines. Sub-zero temperatures meant skyrocketing heating bills. When local resident John Sprungman recently asked why his lights were flickering, a BC Hydro repair technician informed him that Cortes Island is trying to draw more power than the infrastructure on Cortes can handle. BC set a new record for peak electricity demand between 5 and 6 PM on December 27th, 2021: 10,902 megawatts.

Continue reading Keeping the grid up on Cortes Island →
Forests, Weather

Fairy Creek: Roadside camp closes down; Elder Bill Jones given environmental award

Roadside, one of the last remaining Forest Defender camps at Fairy Creek, officially closed down yesterday. In the end, it was severe weather rather than police actions that brought this about.

An unknown number of Indigenous folks remain at a nearby watch camp.

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Animals, Weather

Hummingbirds have humans eating out of their hands during cold snap

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

This morning, my 79-year-old dad was out in the winter dark shovelling a path through a half foot of fresh snow to ensure his hummingbird feeders were full of fresh, sugary liquid by dawn’s first light.

And it wasn’t the first time.

He’s one of a legion of residents across southwestern B.C. and Vancouver Island on a crusade to ensure resident Anna’s hummingbirds don’t perish in the unusually cold weather gripping the region the past few weeks.

Continue reading Hummingbirds have humans eating out of their hands during cold snap →
Weather

Behind the scenes at BC Hydro repairs after recent ‘weather bomb’

CKTZ News, through an LJI grant from Canada-info.ca

The historic storm that hit the Pacific Northwest region on Oct. 24 caused loss of power to tens of thousands of households across the province. The storm has been called a “weather bomb” by the Weather Network, and it set the record for lowest barometric pressure of 942.6 millibars recorded offshore near Tofino.

Cortes experienced one of the longest island-wide power outages in recent years, which lasted close to 48 hours in some neighbourhoods. Most people lost power early Sunday afternoon and waited until mid-morning on Tuesday for electricity that, in many cases, also enables running water.

Continue reading Behind the scenes at BC Hydro repairs after recent ‘weather bomb’ →