September 2020 Forecasts and Discussions

[Weather101]

Any idea how bad the smoke will be tomorrow? I was supposed to have plans but this smoke is really bad on me right now.

[VanCitySouth]

Any idea how bad the smoke will be tomorrow? I was supposed to have plans but this smoke is really bad on me right now.

I heard equivalent or worse than today.

In related news, this was my "view" of the North Shore mountains today. My office is at Edgemont which is basically right at the foot of Grouse. It was suffocating, my throat felt irritated and I had a headache and I was inside all day.

[Mattman]

The kiddos were totally unfazed by the smoke this evening.

[Forrest Gump]

'Get ready to shovel': La Nina is here and that could mean a colder, wetter winter for much of Canada

TORONTO -- As if 2020 wasn’t challenging enough, Canadians in most of the country should be prepared for a colder and wetter winter season thanks to the arrival of La Nina in the Pacific Ocean.

On Thursday, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced the arrival of the natural weather phenomenon that appears every three to five years.

La Nina, which translates to “little girl” in Spanish, is characterized by cooler-than-average sea temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean. It’s considered the antithesis of El Nino, which is distinguished by warmer-than-average sea temperatures.

“It’s called upwelling… all this cold water deep in the ocean basically comes to the surface, and it drops the temperature,” McEwen said during a telephone interview with CTVNews.ca on Friday. “What that does is it cools the surrounding atmosphere.”

While this activity is happening in the tropical Pacific, McEwen said it can have a dramatic impact on temperature and precipitation conditions in North America and the rest of the world.

In Canada, McEwen said La Nina will likely affect British Columbia, the Prairies, Ontario, and Quebec while the territories and the Maritimes will be less impacted.

“Think cold and wet, basically, as the big takeaway,” she said. “It’s going to mean likely a wetter-than-normal winter for B.C., for Ontario, for Quebec, in particular, and then in the Prairies, it could mean colder-than-normal temperatures.”

McEwen stressed that it won’t mean the entire winter will be wet and cold for those regions, but when there is precipitation in Ontario and Quebec, for example, there could be a lot of it and the Prairies might have to deal with some extended cold spells.

“If 2020 wasn’t bad enough, get ready to shovel,” she said.

As for the Maritimes, McEwen said those provinces won’t be as affected simply because of their distance from the Pacific Ocean.

South of the border, La Nina has already made its presence known with its impact on the Atlantic hurricane season.

McEwen explained that La Nina has been brewing for some time and it results in the weakening of the winds between the ocean surface and the upper levels of the atmosphere or the “wind shear.”

“The best way to picture it is like corkscrewing in the atmosphere,” she said. “It's wind changing direction and speed with height so as you go higher up in the atmosphere, the wind almost corkscrews and this wind shear is detrimental to hurricane development.”

An environment with lots of wind shear will prevent hurricanes from developing, McEwen said.

La Nina, however, reduces the amount of wind shear in the Atlantic basin, thus creating optimal conditions for hurricanes to develop.

“This is a global impact,” McEwen said. “Yes, it's in the Pacific, but we look at that area to basically define our entire planet, because we're all connected through the atmospheric circulation.”

The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season has already been more active than most, McEwen said, with a tropical storm named Sally expected over the weekend.

“The fact that we are already at “S” [in the alphabet for naming tropical storms] is unreal,” she said. “And we’re not done yet. We’re going to November so we will likely run out of names and then at that point they go into the Greek alphabet. So it’s a huge year for sure.”

McEwen said La Nina will likely peak during the winter months before easing in the spring; however, that could change because the atmosphere can be unpredictable.

[Typeing3]

Smoke is very thick this morning. Sun has that orange glow to it.

https://mobile.twitter.com/shanelpratap ... 6352931840

[PortKells]

Smoke is very thick this morning. Sun has that orange glow to it.

https://mobile.twitter.com/shanelpratap ... 6352931840

Any change on your past assertions that we never get true dry spells and having zero rain for months on end is somehow a good thing?

[Typeing3]

Any change on your past assertions that we never get true dry spells and having zero rain for months on end is somehow a good thing?

Stop hyperbolizing. Our last meaningful rainfall was on August 21st. 3-6 week dry spells during summer are normal in this climate.

[Forrest Gump]

Smoke is very thick this morning. Sun has that orange glow to it.

https://mobile.twitter.com/shanelpratap ... 6352931840

What Sun? Haven't been outside but it looks similar to overcast skies.
I was going to get up early to do some local fishing but decided against it , probably best to stay indoors as much as possible and ride this out.
Can we expect a reprieve from the smoke on Monday morning?

[John]

Any change on your past assertions that we never get true dry spells and having zero rain for months on end is somehow a good thing?

you like being so confrontational don’t you

[Coquitlam79]

I just saw a report that there is a level 3 drought now on Eastern Vancouver Island and level 2 drought on the west side of Vancouver Island. Most years those regions have very low water flows by the tail end of the summer so it's not alarming. More surprisingly theres a level 4 drought on the Coldwater River Watershed near Merritt. That's surprising because I know the interior had lots of water this year. Okanagan Lake was at record levels and Hydro was spilling excess water over the Columbia River dams until August.

[PortKells]

you like being so confrontational don’t you

Maybe, but are you really the one to call me on it? You seem to exist here just to troll and rile people up with political stuff.

T3 you and I have had an ongoing discussion about this, I'm trying to see if you're making the connection between these ongoing hot spells and things like these harmful droughts and smoke waves. Not that we control the weather obviously, but when you've been cheerleading for summers like this when they always seem to end with us in a smoky hell, maybe we can chill about people wanting some rain every now and then. You've said similarly hyperbolic things in the past.

[VanCitySouth]

All we need is a plague of locusts and then it'll be Judgment Day. Yeesh it's awful out.

[Rubus_Leucodermis]

Only 15°C at noon. Smoke is really holding the temperature down today.

[Hound]

All we need is a plague of locusts and then it'll be Judgment Day. Yeesh it's awful out.

We got moths.. kinda close?

[John]

Worst smoke I ever seen