It now appears to be official.
This year, summer was in April in Prince George.
I seem to recall we had about a week of sunshine and high temperatures way back then, something I don’t recall seeing since. It seems like the six months since then have been spent under cloudy skies, with precipitation appearing on an irregular basis.
I realize that’s probably an inaccurate assessment, and people will remember some beautiful days over the past six months, but while I do seem to recall seeing this bright yellow ball in the sky on occasion, it never really felt like we had a summer in 2019.
Most years, if memory serves me correctly (and it may not, since I’m getting old), we have a couple of weeks of sunshine and high temperatures during the summer. Not this year.
One thing I have heard a lot of people mention about this year, though, is how they will take the weather we’ve had over the smoke-filled skies of the last two summers, and I agree wholeheartedly. It’s been good not just for usm since most of the population could go outside without needing special breathing apparatus, but it also meant there weren’t huge fires ravaging some other areas of the province.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll probably say it again (partly because I tend to forget what comments I’ve already made (that getting old thing again)), but we in the Prince George region have been very lucky the past few years.
We had very bad air conditions at times because of forest fires, but those fires were never all that close to the city. Considering we live in the middle of a forest, much of which is still very dry because of the mountain pine beetle epidemic, I have been pleasantly surprised at the dearth of fires right on our front step.
We opened our hearts and our homes the previous two summers to people forced to evacuate their homes because of forest fires, but we have not had to call on others for those same services.
Now, we are into fall, with a fair bit of rain in the region, and it appears we dodged the forest-fire bullet again this summer.
Will our luck hold in the summer of 2020?
Only time will tell.