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Tuesday, September 11, 2012 The Chilliwack Progress
Pointsof View
The Chilliwack Progress is published by Black Press Group Ltd., every Tuesday and Thursday at 45860 Spadina Ave., Chilliwack. The Progress is a member of the Canadian Circulation’s Audit Board, Canadian Community Newspaper Association, British Columbia and Yukon Community Newspaper Association and B.C. Press Council.
Who will you run for?
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After 31 years and millions of dollars raised, you might think the Terry Fox Run would have run out of steam. In fact, the flame that Port Coquitlam hero Terry Fox lit more than 30 years ago with his ill-fated national run burns just as brightly, thanks to the continued commitment of volunteers, schools and run supporters from all over the world. It would be easy to give the Terry Fox Run a pass on Sunday. It might rain. Other things will compete for your time. Maybe you’re not as inspired as you once were. Further, with Betty Fox’s passing, fewer Fox family members are able to rally the troops. But then there is this: Everyone is touched by cancer and research saves lives. Although two out of five Canadians is expected to develop cancer, only one of every four Canadians will die. Cancer is the leading cause of premature death and funds raised by the Terry Fox Foundation goes to important research that will reduce those statistics. There is also this: More than a million people who don’t even live in Terry’s home nation will run to support the foundation in the coming days. That includes Major Art Brown and his team from Camp KAIA-N based at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan and Camp Eggers at the International Security Assistance Force compound, also in Afghanistan. The men and women of these military commands risk their lives every day but are willing to put aside some of their precious leisure time to run for Terry. If they can do it, so can we. This weekend, take some time and join in. Registration for the Chilliwack event opens at 7:30 a.m. at the Landing Sports Centre on Spadina. The run, 10k, 5k and 2k, starts at 9:30 a.m. There is no entry fee or minimum donation to participate. Taking part — running, walking, cycling, inline skating — is a way of honouring a hero while also endeavouring to put an end to a disease that strikes so many people, many of them, like Terry, simply too young to die. This year, who will you be running for? ~ Black Press
L OCALLY G LOBAL
Chilliwack weather continues to set records
Climate change often has the fingerprint of weather extremes and this summer has to be one for the record books felt from pole to pole. “I have been asked if weather forecasting is more difficult,” said David Phillips, senior climatologist with the Meteorological Service of Canada. “Not day by day. The really wild cards are growing seasons. The signs and signals we trusted in the past aren’t there anymore.” Those signs of change are really being seen in the Arctic. “We have the earliest minimum ice recorded in the Arctic,” he said. “We’re recording low ice amounts right now. It can have profound effects. The Arctic ice is a great big refrigerator. Take the albedo effect. Ninety per cent of heat is reflected (away) because of the ice. But when
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the ice is not there, only 10 per cent is reflected from the water. The disappearance of ice has a huge impact that affects water temperature and currents (driving weather). They can be hard to figure out. It’s a new player in town.” Arctic scientists in Norway say the extent of melt is Margaret unprecedented in at least 1,500 EVANS years. The trend over the past 30 years has been one of dramatic decline, a strong signal of long-term warming. Research will intensify to understand the links between melting Arctic ice, the course and speed of the jet stream (governed by the difference in temperature between
the tropics and the Arctic) and changing weather systems. “In the context of what’s happened in the last several years and throughout the satellite record, it’s an indication that the Arctic sea ice cover is fundamentally changing,” said Walt Meier, a scientist with the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado. And in the complex nature of weather, change and falling records are being see ever ywhere, including Chilliwack. “For the 12th consecutive year, mean temperatures for August were above normal, a trend never previously having occurred since Chilliwack records started in 1895,” said Roger Pannett, volunteer weather obser ver for Environment Canada. “With only 1.2 mm of measurable rainfall (98% below normal for the
month) recorded on August 29th, the drought of 36 days was the longest since the 40 day dry spell in July/August 1990. August 2012 was the driest in 82 years and ranked as the 4th driest since 1879.” Pannett’s records show 1930 with August rainfall of 0.3 mm, 1915 with 0.5 mm, 1901 with 1.0 mm and 2012 with 1.2 mm. And heat continued into September. “(There was) another threeday heat wave here in Chilliwack (this past weekend) with temperatures at 31.0OC +,” he said. “Saturday’s temperatures peaked at a record breaking 31.8OC (10.5OC above normal). Previous records for the day were 30.6OC in 1907 & 31.0OC in 2011. (As of Saturday), there have been 47 days since the last significant rainfall recorded on July 23rd.” The warm, dry trend is expect-
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ed to continue. According to Phillips, the Pacific current El Nino is on the return. The Pacific Ocean waters are still cool from the lingering effects of the La Nina current which is now over. “Very warm waters are coming our way so that’s why we’re talking about El Nino,” he said. “El Nino will be a force to deal with including a less than brutal winter.” El Nino is weak right now and Phillips predicts that the fall season in the Chilliwack area will be normal although September could be dryer and warmer than normal. So far, we’re on track for that. But it could be balanced with a cool-off in October and November. Our last El Nino experience was 2010 when no snow threatened the Winter Olympics.
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