So, here it is late Thursday with the day winding to a close and a week in the month of June behind us. The weather was sunny and warm with temperatures around 20-21 degrees Celsius, and from some accounts I heard, may have gotten up to 26 degrees. The humidity was in the 70 percent range. Well, all that ended Sunday when the clouds started moving in from the southwest. It was still very warm but by evening it was raining on occasion and Monday was a lost cause with pouring rain for most of the day. Yesterday the humidity was around 88 percent with a temperature at 10 degrees Celsis. So today I find it cool. I replaced the shorts that I had been wearing in the warm weather with jeans and added a sweater Still I find a chill in the air in the apartment not to mention outside. The heat has been turned off because we didn't need it with the previous temperatures. The comforter for the bed which I had planned to put away for the summer is back on the bed. It's too cool without it. So when will the warm weather return? That's anyone's guess.
A friend of mine in London, Ontario mentioned that temperatures in southwestern Ontario had been in the 30s, then dropped to around 24 and when I was chatting with her two days ago, it was between 7 & 8 degrees Celsius. That's after the arrival of a late spring and the heat wave that followed. Another friend in Pennsylvania said it got into the 90s (Fahrenheit) during the heat wave in their area (north of Philadelphia) and that was after a late spring for them as well. We certainly live in very interesting times! The temperatures are back up again and much warmer.
It's often said that you can't do anything about the weather but just accept what comes. True, we can accept it all but I often wonder how much our own human activities in polluting this wonderful planet, clear cutting forests, both boreal and tropical, draining aquifers dry plus our agricultural practices contribute to the odd weather we are experiencing. There are many theories on what is causing Global Warming (and cooling in some places) but there is no denying that it is occurring. Now what are we going to do about it or is humanity going to bicker about the causes till our extinction becomes more than a theory but a distinct reality? Just some food for thought! Any comments???
Back in November 2006 there was a snowstorm that started on the 20th and continued through the weekend. That was my first year in British Columbia's lower mainland after moving out here from southwestern Ontario. When the snow stopped falling, I took a series of photos which you see here. Back east this sort of thing is normal, so the snow can be moved and cleared within 2 - 3 days and in a lot less time if its a minor snowfall.
I did some research on the internet afterward and found that this sort of thing was normal about 50 years ago. People here have been lulled into a false sense of acceptence by higher than normal temperatures and the lack of snow. So with the lack of equipment to move the snow, side streets remained snowbound for over a week. The parking lot where I lived was never ploughed and the management left it for nature to melt the snow. Such scenes were common in the area.
I was living in north Surrey with 104th Avenue and 148th Street being the main intersection nearby. That's where this series of photos was taken after the snow stopped falling. I'll let the images speak for themselves.
I allowed a blogger friend in San Francisco to post the you see photo above. This was before I started blogging myself in February 2007. There first few photos show a rather dull looking landscape but the mood changes once the sun makes an appearance where it shines through a break in the cloud cover to the south. So are we ready to handle such a storm if it happens during the winter olympics? I rather doubt it but we'll see. Enjoy the photos and feel free to comment! - V.
Now that we are in the midst of a cold blast of arctic air and real winter here on the west coast, here is a photo of one of the beaches facing English Bay in Vancouver. The photo was taken in early August during the height of our summer here in British Columbia. Perhaps this will serve as a distraction from all the snow and cold that we are currently having. There will be more about the beaches, from Kitsilano, Jericho, Locarno and Spanish Banks Beaches to Point Grey Beach soon. Meantime, enjoy this diversion!
