I have found out one good thing about doing the weather updates on CFIS radio.
It’s very difficult to be wrong.
The forecasts are for the Prince George region, not just downtown Prince George, and the odds are whatever the forecast says, that’s what the weather will be somewhere in the region.
I have no idea how many micro-climates there are in the city, but I know there’s more than a couple.
I have left the studio at Studio 2880 on 15th Avenue some afternoons, heading back to my former apartment at 15th and Foothills. As I get into my vehicle in the parking lot at the back of the building, the sun is shining.
As I drive out onto 15th Avenue, the sun is still shining, but there are a few drops of rain appearing on the windshield.
As I cross Highway 97, the rain is getting a little heavier so I turn my wipers on, and the sun is still shining, but I can see the shadow of the edge of a cloud bank coming straight down 15th Avenue at me.
As I get close to the Post Office on 15th, I am now under very dark clouds and I have had to turn my wipers to the second, faster setting.
I drive a few more blocks, and now the wipers are on at top speed and I’m still having trouble seeing through the rain. The conditions don’t seem to slow some drivers down. I guess their thinking is, “I want to drive as fast as possible to get out of this rain.”
As I cross Ospika Boulevard, the clouds are beginning to lighten, and the wipers are back down to second gear.
I cross the turnoff to Tabor Boulevard, and turn the wipers off as the sun comes back out.
When I pull into the parking lot at my apartment, the pavement is almost dry. I see one of the other residents at the front door, and she says, “Yeah, we had a few drops of rain. Nothing much.”
So it doesn’t matter what the forecast from Environment Canada said that I put on the air 15 minutes ago, some of it was right for some people somewhere in Prince George.
And that’s actually a higher percentage than a lot of other predictions you hear these days (like who’s going to win the next election).