2024 Year in Review: Extreme weather in B.C.

Whether it be wildfires, atmospheric rivers, or bomb cyclones, 2024 has been packed full of weather and climate-related events throughout B.C. 

Over the past several years, in fact, the province has seen major weather events devastate industries, such as the stone fruit crop in the Interior. 

The Lower Mainland even saw extreme flooding on the same day people braved the lines at the polls to vote in October’s provincial election. 

Lionel Pandolfo, a geoscience professor at the University of the Fraser Valley, says climate change and extreme weather events go hand in hand. 

“Because global warming is occurring, I think these effects are expected to happen more often,” said Pandolfo.

“Temperatures are rising, storms are stronger, places that are dry will become drier, places that are wet will become wetter.”

Pandolfo says that because the atmosphere is warmer, it can contain more water vapour, which can cause extreme precipitation. 

“A lot of the things that we have seen have actually happened because the planet is warming,” he said.

“Lightning strikes will start a fire, but if the ground is dry and the forest is dry, it will just burn more than it did in the past.”

Pandolfo says unless the people and the government do a better job handling the current crisis, these types of events are trending to become annual norms. 

“Maybe not 2025, but in the future, we will see stronger storms, stronger hurricanes, worse droughts, worse floods, and worse forest fires,” said Pandolfo. 

“This is the lot that we are going to face, because we are not handling the planet’s warming. Too many people are just raising their arms and saying, ‘Well, there’s nothing I can do.’ But that’s wrong. The government should do something.”

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