May 17, 2023

The sun glowed in the distance. It was a red ball in the sky, shrouded in smoke. Smoke that covered vast tracks of Western Canada. The heat simmered in the valley and it felt like your typical August day.

Except this was Mid-May.

Northern Alberta is a blaze and the smoke has spread for thousands of kilometres. Reminders of a tragic time a few years ago when part of Fort MacMurray was consumed in a fiery inferno. 

Some people still deny that this is the result of man-made climate change. But what else could be causing these crazy weather patterns? We have a heat wave in May, drought has struck much of Western North America including California, Nevada, and New Mexico. Until there were massive snowstorms and floods in the month of March, most of California had suffered with a lack of water, until ten feet of snow fell in two weeks.

If that isn’t a sign of a changing climate, I don’t know what is.

Still here we are Mid May and it feels like August.

Until the May long weekend that is – then you can be guaranteed a rain shower. Or if you live in Alberta a snow shower.

The hope is Alberta will get plenty of showers this May Long Weekend. The fires in the northern part of the province are devastating and the reason for all the smoke that blanketed much of BC and Alberta.

At least the only storms we need to worry about are the ones brought on by mother nature. The viral storms have subsided and hopefully, the political ones will follow suit.

Summer will soon be here in full force. Lets hope we have plenty of rain to keep the fires from burning the province. But nor too much rain, then we’ll have to worry about floods. 

Since it’s not a perfect world there will always be something to worry about.