Most recent print edition: Jul 28

– Last updated: Today

• About Us
• |
• Contact Us
• |
• Advertising
• |
• Submissions

Science & Tech

Warm weather woes?

Rebekah Hammond - Science & Tech Editor

There will be no skating on TRU's experimental ice rink this year.

Students who usually stand freezing at bus stops, bundled up beyond recognition at this time of year are are enjoying the above-zero temperatures. The unseasonably warm weather comes with pros and cons, however.

A lack of white stuff doesn't bode well for winter recreation enthusiasts. Absence of snow caused many worries at Vancouver's Cyprus Mountain ski hill where Olympic events were hosted.

Fortunately, for TRU's adventure program, despite no snow in Kamloops, the nearby mountains have an enough snow that none of their out-trips have been canceled.

"So far for us, it hasn't affected anything, actually," said Gilles Valade, one of the program instructors. "Most of our courses are in the mountains and there's quite a bit of snow once you get to a certain elevation."

"Actually, the driving is quite easier this year because there's no snow on the road, there's no issues with the road closures, etc," he said.

They might be affected in the spring, however, if there's not enough snow melt to fill the rivers for their paddling trips.

"But so far, knock on wood, we're fine. It'd be different if we'd play hockey outside or something," Valade said. "What we've noticed is what is consistent now, is every year is weird. I've been in Kamloops 17 years and this is the driest, warmest winter I've seen, usually we get warm spells, but not that much."

The appearance of bare roads, light jackets and a puddle for an ice rink in February can be attributed to the weather phenomenon, El Nino.

"Typically, when we have these El Ninos, what we see are things like less snow, warmer temperatures and less precipitation in general," said Darryl Carlyle-Moses, a geography professor at TRU.

El Nino is only one part of a two-part equation that also involves something called the Southern Oscillation - a change in pressure systems off the coast of South America that disrupts the trade winds.

"Trade winds are quite strong. Because they're moving so fast, they're actually bringing with them ocean waters," Carlyle-Moses said. "They're basically pushing all the water [from South America] towards Australia in the Western Pacific."

"As that water's being displaced, water from underneath the ocean is coming up to replace the water that's being pushed away from the Eastern Pacific," he said.

The water rising up from the depths is cold, but for unknown reasons Southern Oscillation occurs and disrupts the cycle and an El Nino results.

"El Nino itself refers to changes in the surface temperature of the Pacific Ocean, particularly off the coast of Ecuador and Peru," said Carlyle-Moses. Warmer weather and less precipitation happens as a result.

Why does that affect Kamloops' weather in the interior of British Columbia?

"It all has to do with the fact that our oceans and atmosphere are all linked," Carlyle-Moses said. "So when something goes strange, or different in one part, there are consequences for other oceans, ocean currents and also atmospheric pressure systems across the globe. They have a major influence on our weather patterns."

Warmer weather and less rain could mean a hotter, drier summer with an extended forest fire season and water shortages.

"If the snowpacks aren't deep enough, there's not enough snow [and] there's not enough water to recharge groundwater aquifers," Carlyle-Moses said. "In a lot of areas, soil moisture will be much less than what it should be because of the decrease in the snowpacks."

"Who knows though, weather is funny," he said. "We could get hit by cold and snowy weather by the end of February, you never know."