BC Weather Year in Review for 2011: An Introduction to PCIC Climate Analysis and Monitoring

PCIC Climatologist Faron Anslow presents "BC Weather Year in Review for 2011: An Introduction to PCIC Climate Analysis and Monitoring" as part of the joint PICS/PCIC Pacific Climate Seminar Series.

This seminar will also be available via live webcast.

Abstract: The climate analysis and monitoring theme at the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium is working with the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions and the BC Ministry of Environment to better describe the climate of British Columbia. Part of this process is following the evolving weather events and seasonal climate of the province utilizing observations from weather and climate stations in the Climate Related Monitoring Program's networks. This presentation will discuss some of the climate anomalies (or lack of anomalies) for 2011. We'll look at a couple of events of extreme rainfall that occurred in the Peace River region, an instance of heavy “pineapple express” rains over the lower mainland, and the occurrence of extended cold and rainy conditions in the spring. Efforts to enhance our ability to describe these events using stations from the Climate Related Monitoring Program will be presented. Finally, the formation of a new climate baseline and gridded climate timeseries for British Columbia using PRISM will be described.