Die heranziehende Gewitterzelle kann man im Regenradar beobachten, sie entwickelt sich erst noch richtig auf ihrem Weg aus dem Thüringer Raum zu uns.…
Unwettersaison 2024
Radelnder uHu has posted an amazing set of photographs of a thunderstorm cell passing overhead and also discusses his concerns about the serious weather changes he has noted. The title translates to “Severe Weather Season.” Please click on the link above for the rest of the post.
It’s that time of year again,spawning time. This year we’ve had poor rain levels and so that in turn makes the streams low. When the streams are low,…
SPAWNING TIME
An amazing picture of a bear capturing some dinner from Wayne at Tofino Photography. Wayne is concerned about our low water levels and the effect this will have on the salmons’ ability to swim upstream to spawn. Please click on the link above to read more.
We finally got a good rainfall in the Okanagan which has helped tremendously with the fires in West Kelowna, Westbank First Nation, Lake Country and Kelowna.
M and I have been staying inside because the air quality has been so terrible. Our area was beginning to look like an apocalyptic movie; it was very dark out and the smell of wood smoke was extremely unsettling. At one point our fire alarm went off because smoke was managing to leak inside. Nevertheless, yesterday the air cleared up enough for us to take a short walk outside.
The beaches were eerily empty – the premier had asked tourists to leave because hotel spaces were needed for evacuees – and the downtown was uncharacteristically quiet for this time of year. After days of concentrated acridity, we were at last able to see something of Okanagan Lake although it was still wearing a smoke veil. But as we were coming home, it happened – rain, that is. Finally there was a good soaking which has hugely aided in the fire fighting efforts. Today, most of the road closures were rescinded and the Okanagan travel ban has been lifted. Hopefully, our skies will soon be completely clear again.
Many in the Okanagan have lost homes and possessions and are facing the huge task of re-building and starting over. I wish them all the best for the future.
The environmental damage has been enormous. All the hectares of forests, all the animals, the atmosphere … The only good news is that at least no one was hurt or injured, in part a testament to the forest fire safety planning and execution of those plans and to the extreme efforts of fire fighting personnel and their supporters.
My friends and colleagues in the Northwest Territories are still under threat and have been evacuated to numerous places all over the country. Although those fires seem to be holding, I hope they will soon be out and everyone is able to safely return home.
Happy Thursday.
We have smoky skies right now because of another fire, but it’s nothing like the smoke, embers, and fires many others in this country are presently facing: evacuations, air rescues and lifts, loss of homes and possessions, appalling environmental damage … all I can say in the positive is that at least no one has been hurt.
Right now, Canada is facing its worse fire season in recorded history. We’re the second-largest country in the world (after Russia), almost half of that expanse is forest, and a lot of it is presently on fire. So far, an area the size of Portugal has already burned.
There are so many fires that they have to be triaged; in other words, the most threatening to human life and property get the most attention. While many fire fighters from around the world have selflessly come to help, there aren’t enough in the world to deal with all these fires; a sad and wrenching fact.
I hope the many fires we are experiencing throughout the country are soon extinguished, especially in the Northwest Territories where the damage has been extreme and the threat is still very present. Yellowknife, the capital, is now being evacuated.
Right now we need a lot of this …
followed by a lot of this …
Wish us luck. 🍀
We have been very fortunate here in our little valley to have avoided the fires and extreme dryness of so many other parts of this big country.
While we could really do with more rain, there have been enough showers to keep everything green and percolating along. Given the conditions that other areas are suffering through, we’re in no position to complain.
It’s normal for this valley to be hot during the summer (40°C or 104F) but we have actually been slightly cooler than usual.
Happy Thursday.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA My photos here show the often-fragile beauty of our world. My hope is they will encourage viewers to act in ways that will …
#ScenicSaturday 10th June 2023
Not just a photo, but a reminder from Stuart. Please click on the link above to see the rest of his post.
A week ago, this river, jammed with ice and swollen by a massive rain and snow storm, burst its banks. The muddy-looking chunks toward the left are actually the leftover pieces of some of the enormous ice pans that clogged the river.
The river is still unusually high, but no longer a threatening behemoth.
Happy Saturday.
Remember the river photo I posted a while back?
Well, here it is now, about 10 km further north.
Last weekend’s storm (massive rain, massive snow, more massive rain, then a freeze) caused the ice pans to block the water flow from further up-river, resulting in a flood. Parts of the nearby town have been evacuated and other parts are completely under water.
Flooding is terrible.
Penticton (and most of British Columbia) has had a much colder winter than usual. Heck, over the last six months, it’s had unbelievably bad weather, period.
First there were heat waves (referred to as “heat domes” by the media). No matter what they were called, they were bad. I will never forget seeing on June 28 a temperature of 46°C (115°F) on our deck. In the shade.
Then there were the fires. Almost all of the town of Lytton was consumed by them. Throughout British Columbia, the air quality was terrible and the heat unrelenting.
Then autumn brought intense rain accompanied by high winds. The rain saturated the soil, the wind pulled the fire-dead trees from the ground, and this lead to extreme flooding and landslides, especially in the lower mainland. Dozens of landslides swept vehicles from the roads and trapped people and communities in isolated pockets.
The Coquihalla Highway, a main four-to-six lane artery that carries supplies and people through the mountains, was seriously damaged in 20 separate places. The community of Abbotsford, a major supplier of dairy and other agricultural products and situated in the lower mainland, suffered extreme flooding and enormous economic damage.
Now we’re being hit by record-breaking cold temperatures with freezing rain, snow and slush. The media are doing reports on how people can help to save the non-migratory hummingbirds from freezing to death. According to the scientists, this is the tip of the (melting) iceberg because these “weather events” are going to get worse.
Question is, what are we doing to mitigate this situation? And, what are we doing to get ready for what’s coming?
In the Net! - Pictures and Stories of Life 