Crazy weather in southwestern BC and beyond

For weeks during this hot dry summer, large swathes of the interior of BC, Alberta and the northwestern US were covered by a pall of forest fire smoke.

The picture on the left shows what Barriere looked like on August 24 when I passed through.

Today I came back over the same road. I was relieved to see that last weekend's recent heavy rainstorms had washed the sky clean (below).

While I was away, the Lower Mainland had rain with gale-force winds that broke down branches and uprooted drought-weakened trees. Large trees fell, damaging houses and crushing cars.

The good news is that the plants are delighted with the long-awaited moisture. In our garden the fall crocus is coming on beautifully.

At Valemount and Jasper, snow has already fallen on the mountaintops.We hope this augurs a normal snow cover for the coming winter, reducing the risk of drought next year.