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SNC2P – Climate Change Name: Date:Save this activity on your OneDrive and use the articles below to answer the following questions.What helps keep temperature moderate in Vancouver?What is the average rainfall in Vancouver October to March? What are some of the highs expected for Vancouver and Kelowna?What is contributing to these warmer temperatures?What is the long-range forecast estimated to be for the summer and why?What three of the highest temperatures and what month? What are the three coldest temperature and what months? Compare Vancouver with Kelowna in the chart.MonthsVancouverKelownaArticle 1: B.C. may be in for along, hot summerWhenever temperatures approach 30 C?in Metro Vancouver, it's a talker. While the thermostat does get close once or twice each?summer, this particular heat wave has a lot of added factors. First of all,?it's early, as?seasonal highs for Vancouver right now are just 20 C.And the forecast temperatures will likely end up 10 degrees above that this weekend —?numbers more reminiscent of July or August. This heat wave will also be intense. Temperatures will steadily climb right across southern B.C. over the next few days,?peaking on Sunday at 30 degrees for the South Coast?and approaching the 40s in the Interior.Daily temperature records will fall, but so too will many all-time hottest June?day records. It looks like we will, at?least, get close for places like Vancouver (30.6 C), Kelowna (38 C) and Kamloops (39.1 C).Finally, this heat is just the latest 'extreme' in what has been an incredibly warm and dry year overall. Most of B.C. is coming out of a winter of record low snow packs.Long range forecast calls for hot summerThis past May was the driest on record for most of the province. So far, just a fraction of expected June rain has fallen. And in general, temperatures have been above seasonal for weeks on end. This provides?that much more of an impact for?the hot weather forecast?when it comes to fire danger and drought concerns. After an explosive start to the fire season, and reservoirs dropping at an alarming speed,?a dry forecast ramps up the danger?and a hot one means evaporation of any moisture happens at a faster rate.Now for the 'why':?the?weather story for months has been a persistent high-pressure system?sitting off the B.C.?coast. It has not only kept us protected from Pacific rain-makers, but it's also ushered in warmer temperatures. The driving factor here is warmer than normal sea?surface temperatures over the eastern Pacific, are?here to stay for the summer thanks to a strengthening El Ni?o. This weekend, a slightly different set?up is occurring. The core of our heat is actually coming from the southwestern U.S.?It's being driven north by a strong high-pressure system sitting over Arizona that is?directing hot, dry air that forms over the desert and makes its way up into the Pacific Northwest.?Small chance of a breakSo when will?B.C.?catch a break? It's generally a hot and dry forecast through the weekend and through next week. But there are a few mini?breaks to watch out for.Afternoon thunderstorms are possible right across B.C., including for?Vancouver on both?Saturday and Sunday. They will be isolated if they happen and will also bring the risk for fire-starting lightning. There may also be some quick rain Monday night into Tuesday before the forecast dries up again. And it will.Long range outlooks for the West Coast continue to show a strong likelihood the?heat will continue. Your best bet this weekend may be the beach.?Temperatures will be a good three to four degrees cooler than even a few blocks inland.Article 2: are Vancouver winters so wet?While walking to school one wet morning, my daughter wanted to know why we get so much rain in the fall and winter. Eight other weather reporting stations in Canada are rainier than Vancouver, the top being Prince Rupert. Still, that's pretty rainy. And it rains twice as much in the winter compared to the summer. From October to March, an average of 870 mm falls, compared with 369 mm from April to September. The snow is hardly worth talking about.ENERGY FROM THE SUN heats up the air at the equator most because of the curvature of the earth. This tends to rise up then head toward the poles where it cools and moves closer to the surface and then more or less back toward the equator.THE ROTATION OF THE EARTH makes the movement of air relative to the surface of the earth seem to deflect. This Coriolis effect doesn't affect your toilet flushing,but does influence large scale wind patterns and hurricanes. THE LATITUDE OF VANCOUVER roughly half way between the equator and the north pole positions us so the large scale wind patterns tend to bring us winds from the west.THE PACIFIC OCEAN sits to the west. Winds pick up moisture from it toward shore. Large bodies of water also tend to hang on to energy that keeps our temperatures more moderate.THE COAST MOUNTAINS push the moist air upward so it cools off and can't hold on to as much moisture, so it rains.THE TILT OF THE EARTH'S AXIS relative to the plane of our orbit around the sun means we are tilted away from the sun during winter, so it's cooler. This results in a greater temperature gradient between the equator and the north pole, and the winds get stronger. The cooler temperatures combined with more moisture-ladened wind brings more rain during winter.If you're keen on this subject you might want to read Living with Weather Along the British Columbia Coast by Owen Lange or The Climate of Vancouver by Tim Oke and John Hay.Temperatures:High °FLow °F?High °CLow °C 4434January714735February825138March1035642April1366248May1796753June20127257July22147257August22146651September19115645October1474838November934333December615744Year147Average Vancouver temperaturesHigh °FLow °F?High °CLow °C3626January2-34026February4-35031March1006038April1636945May2177652June25118256July28138256August28137247September2295739October1444432November603525December2-45939Year154Average Kelowna temperatures ................
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