Freak weather brings winds of change to the West Coast

[n2doc]

Freak weather brings winds of change to the West Coast
By LES LEYNE
GUEST COLUMNIST

When they look back on it all years from now, maybe Ottawa's experience on the Rideau Canal during the winter of 2007 may be considered Canada's tipping point for the idea of climate change.

When the picturesque canal through the heart of the nation's capital freezes over in winter, it becomes the world's longest skating rink. It's the focal point of Winterlude, an annual celebration of the season for which Canada is best known.

Except last winter there was no winter. The canal didn't freeze until a brief period much later in the season.

Ottawa is the second coldest national capital in the world, behind only Ulaanbaatar, in Mongolia. But on Jan. 5 it was a balmy 50 degrees Fahrenheit, by far the warmest such date there in recorded history. People were still enjoying the canal, but they were jogging in shorts and T-shirts, rather than skates and scarves. Others were out golfing, the first time in recorded memory people could golf in eastern Ontario in January.

The sustained summer threw Central Canada for a loop. Meanwhile, British Columbia was also left aghast, as a prolonged series of ferocious storms battered the coast and buried the interior of the province in yards of snow.

The subtropical weather pattern known as the Pineapple Express drenched the coast four times in two weeks during November, accompanied by hurricane-force winds. Then a series of snowstorms hit the length of the coast in December, leaving hundreds of thousands without power for days on end. Followed by more pounding rain in early January. Victoria got three times its normal rainfall for the month. The west coast rain-forest town of Tofino recorded 10 inches in 30 hours.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/317324_focus27.html

[donsu]

1. it is wise to stay prepared for a cat 6 event - weather or otherwise

nt

[acmavm]

2. Another article that explains, perfectly, why the Canadian government

NEEDS to come down hard on the bush*** admins attempt to water down the policy of the G8 in regard to global warming, or climate change caused by human behavior (which would be a better term but a mouthful to get out).

[enid602]

3. Canada

Does this mean that the Canadian Government will put an end to shale oil mining?