Before the rain

by Richard
(Castlegar)

snow air

Got it done, whew...

Barry's Response Thanks, Richard. That gave us some relief from thinking we had a lot of snow in Calgary this particular year.

British Columbia always beats us, though. Did this really happen before the rain? Course, you probably know what would happen if that were the case. When heavy snow like that precedes a solid rain it results in significant slush, possible hidden water flows and landslides in extreme cases.

How do landslides occur? Groundwater flows under the slope and destabilizes it. That may happen at any time. At certain times rainwater and melting snow weakens the ground slope more than usual and this may complement the groundwater flow problem. BC frequently gets landslides of this type. Hope, BC - 1965 and Frank, Alberta - 1903 make or two of Canada's most notable events. While the recurring Devil's Slide in California makes US headlines on a regular basis.

No landslides in Castlegar that I know of so far; what is the climate like there? This town of nearly 8000 has a dry (ish) summer season and pretty good snow all winter. You can expect summer temperatures into the mid-30s a few times each year and winter lows in the -15 range just about as often.



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