‘I am really worried’: B.C. premier braces for another potential dangerous summer drought
Posted February 8, 2024 2:44 pm.
Last Updated February 8, 2024 2:48 pm.
B.C. could be in for another very dry summer, with the premier expressing concern about what could come.
David Eby’s concerns come at a critical time, with low snowpack reported on many of the province’s mountains.
“The weather that we’re having is so unpredictable and so extreme right now that the economic impacts and the human impacts in our province are much more acute, like we’re the early warning sign for the rest of Canada about what’s coming with climate change,” Eby said Thursday.
B.C.’s snow basins provide crucial water as they melt in the spring.
Data from the BC River Forecast Centre shows snow basins are lower now than they were the same time last year.
Currently, the snow basins are at 61 per cent of normal.
They were at 79 per cent last February, before 2023’s record drought and wildfire season.
The centre notes, if conditions don’t change soon, the province will be on track for a record-low waterflow and drought hazard through the spring and summer.
“Knowing that water levels behind dams for hydro are low, knowing that farmers didn’t have enough water to grow feed for their cattle this summer, knowing the forest-fire impacts we’ve seen, I am really worried about the summer that’s coming up,” the premier said.
Eby points out conditions are already dry in B.C., with about 100 wildfires burning in the province, under the snow.
“This marks the year when I learn that fires can actually burn underneath snow — I didn’t know that was a thing. But, if conditions are dry enough, that is in fact what can happen, and what the fire service tells me is happening in part of the province,” he said.
“We are in some of the most dramatic drought conditions that have been seen in our lifetime in the province, especially in the northeast.”
According to the premier, the government is working through recommendations for mitigating damage that came out of last season. He says the province is also shoring up federal resources like the Armed Forces if additional resources are needed this summer.
