Is climate change affecting you?
By Bill Fox/Columnist
This past winter, with the windchill, the temperature twice went down to -40 C (which is also -40 F). Having just moved into a three-bedroom electrically heated apartment last July, I was shocked at two monthly hydro bills of more than $550 each. I never imagined I’d be paying that amount to heat our place!
This past winter, there was a streak of 37 frigid days where the daily high never reached 0 C! Twenty-three days were labelled extremely cold by Toronto’s Public Health department. That total well exceeded February 2014’s 12 alerts, the three in February 2013 and two in February 2012. February was the coldest February since records were kept!
There are many changes in recent weather conditions that should be a warning to us all. I have a brother living across the bay from San Francisco, and while visiting this past spring, I noticed first hand some of the effects of the drought that California has been experiencing over the past four years. In California’s history, there have been other droughts, but according to experts, this has been the driest that California has ever experienced, with lakes and reservoirs drying right up! Can you imagine going up to Lake Scugog and seeing no water? Similar things have been happening in California and people are extremely concerned.
Back home in Canada, I talked with my son in Maple Ridge, B.C. (about 40 km east of Vancouver) over Skype the other day. In the past when I visited, sometimes for two weeks, I mentioned how I could never live there because you might go two weeks without seeing the sun, and you would be under a constant rain drizzle. I noticed that the temperatures over the past two weeks have been above 30 C (more than 85 F), peaking at 40 C, which is 104 F! People in B.C. are astonished!
When my son awoke the other day, he was alarmed with the smell of smoke in his home and rushed around to find the source only to realize the air was the culprit. The smoke in his area is drifting down from northern B.C. and from the many fires in Saskatchewan. In fact, there have been media announcements asking people not to keep phoning the fire department about the smell of smoke.
Now, homes in B.C. rarely come with air conditioning, as there has never been the need. So he has a room air conditioner on order, but the stores are sold out of air conditioners and even fans.
As the BC Wildlife Service battles more than 150 active fires – including in Nanaimo and Sechelt – the province announced that as of noon on July 3, all campfires are banned. Fireworks and all other open fires are also prohibited, according to a media release from Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations.
The BC government has also suspended all fishing in streams and rivers in many areas of the province because of low river levels and high water temperatures. The ministry said it was watching 75 other key angling streams across the province, and that the fishing ban could be extended if conditions warrant.
“It is important that we are able to react quickly to protect vulnerable fish stocks,” Forests Minister Steve Thomson said in a news release.
Meanwhile, the Okanagan Valley and the Kootenays also saw temperatures as high as 40 C over the recent long weekend.
The Forests Ministry announced a Level 4 drought rating for southern Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, meaning water supplies are insufficient to meet the needs of communities and ecosystems. Metro Vancouver has responded to the record-breaking heat wave by moving the region to the second stage of its four-stage plan to handle water shortages. Lawn sprinkling is now only permitted in the morning and should be restricted to once per week, while all commercial and public fountains and water features must be turned off.
So is this the beginning of climate change? What can we do to reverse this trend? More in a future column.