With rain and snow in the forecast for British Columbia, it’s finally time to say goodbye to the province’s long dry spell.
Environment Canada is calling for just under 10 millimeters of rain in the Fraser Valley and about seven millimeters in parts of eastern Vancouver Island early Saturday, but parched areas on the Sunshine Coast they will have to wait a little longer to get the relief.
The rain is expected to continue into Saturday and into next week and the chief of the Shíshálh Nation, Warren Paull, predicts the Sechelt area could receive up to 35 millimeters from the expected round of systems, but said much more is needed.
While many have enjoyed the unseasonably warm temperatures of September and October, the lack of precipitation that is drying up streams, creeks and lakes is a real cause for concern.
Sechelt District and the Shíshálh Nation recently declared a local state of emergency due to the severe level of drought prevailing in the region.
In Metro Vancouver, below-normal reservoir levels prompted officials to ask millions of residents and businesses to conserve water as the last appreciable rain fell in Vancouver on Sept. 4.
Environment Canada forecasters said interior mountain passes will see a dusting of snow.
Other parts of BC, such as Haida Gwaii, the Central Coast and the Eastern Pacific Range, a strip of land that stretches from north of Whistler to the Alaskan border, are classified as drought level 4, and the dry conditions everywhere mean BC’s wildfire season is dragging. .
Wildfires are still burning across BC
More than 200 active fires continue to burn, including four suspected human-caused fires on Wednesday and another on Thursday, along with two lightning-related fires.
Wildfires in the Fraser Valley and EC Manning Provincial Park, as well as several large fires in Washington state, were blamed for sending a thick, hazy blanket over most of the lower half of the province for several days, prompting Environment Canada to issue air quality. notices
IQAir, the organization that publishes global air quality rankings, on Thursday ranked Vancouver as having the fourth worst air quality on the planet, just behind Seattle, Portland, Oregon and Beijing.
Metro Vancouver lifted its air quality advisory on Friday.
Environment Canada still has warnings from the Fraser Valley to the Kootenays, but has called for a significant improvement during the day as winds help clear dirty skies.
IQAir had already ranked Vancouver, Portland and Seattle among the cities with the best air quality as of Friday.
road safety
The return of the expected rain also means slippery roads and foggy windshields.
Kate Harris, who owns a driving school on Vancouver Island, said nearly half of all accidents in BC occur between October and January.
Nearly 80 percent of pedestrian accidents, Harris said, occur at intersections.
“It gets darker earlier; we’re tired because the time change is coming up. We’re busy, we’re running around trying to fit everything in. And now is when we see all these accidents happening. All of this can be prevented,” he said Harris.
“We have to yield our right of way to keep everyone safe.”
A local driving instructor is asking drivers to slow down and be more alert in rainy conditions to avoid incidents on the road. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
Pedestrians are encouraged to wear reflective clothing and drivers and cyclists are encouraged to wear bright headlights to avoid most of these crashes. Road users are asked to pay close attention to their surroundings due to poor visibility.
Drivers are encouraged to plan ahead and take a little extra time to defrost windows and make sure their vehicle is safe before hitting the roads.
The ICBC website includes interactive tools that show crash maps by region and intersections with the most pedestrian crashes.