This mild winter is a bad sign for the coming wildfire season

Good morning, 

The sky still gets dark early this time of year, but one thing I try to keep in mind — for the sake of my own sanity — is that we’re in a period of acceleration. From the winter solstice until the spring equinox, our daily sunlight is increasing at a faster rate each day, and that’s nice to think about. When we hit the equinox, it’ll still keep getting brighter each day, but that’s when the brakes start to be applied.

I, for one, am happy at least to be accelerating towards the light! (At least, that’s what I tell myself.)

— Dustin Godfrey

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WEATHER

Monday: 3 🌡️ 3 | 🌧️

Tuesday: 8 🌡️ 4 | 🌧️

Wednesday: 6 🌡️ -1 | 🌤️

CLIMATE

This mild winter should concern you

Background: It’s been a mild winter all around, with several temperature records falling in the province in the last couple of weeks. That includes a century-old warm-weather record in Greater Victoria on Dec. 27, along with several records elsewhere in BC, and 11 more temperature records on Dec. 30, according to CTV.

Of course, the weather here in Vancouver, too, has been mild — so much so that local mountains have hardly opened to skiing. Grouse and Cypress only had one or two runs open, while Seymour was closed entirely on Dec. 31, and only about half of the runs at Whistler Blackcomb were open, CTV reported.

That said, a bit of overnight snow did mean more open runs at all of the above this past weekend, according to CityNews.

Don’t we like mild weather? Obviously nobody will complain in the moment about less rain in what is typically seen as the dreariest month of the year, a time in which up to 60 percent of Canadians report feeling the “winter blues,” while about two to three percent experience clinical seasonal affective disorder, the Canadian Mental Health Association told CBC. (Though some might say the dreariest month is yet to come.)

Heck, we’ve even gotten a little touch of spring this year already, with CityNews pointing to daffodils blooming along the English Bay seawall, something CTV noted was only made possible by a chilly spell in October.

• Don’t get too close to the flowers: Listen, it’s okay to enjoy a little colour in what is otherwise a usually grey season, but don’t get too attached to those flowers. As CTV reported, they were born into a cruel world that will likely leave them frozen off by the end of this week.

Okay, but you said ‘troubling’: It’s not just a dismal ski season and a tragically short life for the flowers at stake here. Environment Canada told CTV we could see drought conditions persist throughout the year, meaning we should expect a low snowpack — and that could mean a “really awful fire season again.”

You’ll recall last year’s fire season was already devastating — more than 6,500 fires burned nearly 19 million hectares across the country, making for the worst Canadian fire season in recorded history, according to CBC. In fact, we still have 100 “zombie fires” still burning in the province, something a UBC expert called “mind boggling” and “unheard of.”

El Niño prevails: April through June is expected to see temperatures 70 percent above normal, according to CBC, with “really no indication” of getting down to normal or below until late fall, and December’s snowpack wasn’t even a quarter of normal.

All of that means BC needs to prepare for another year of potential disaster in rural areas, and we in Vancouver need to prepare for yet another year of yellow skies and breathing smoky air this summer.

VANCOUVER NUMBERS

🚎 180: The number of transit supervisors refusing overtime as of Saturday morning, after CUPE Local 4500 voted to deliver a 72-hour strike notice to the Coast Mountain Bus Company, which operates Metro Vancouver’s buses, last week. [CBC]

🚗 100: At least this many vehicles had windows smashed in a six-kilometre stretch in one night, according to the Vancouver Police Department. [CTV]

💨 5: It’s been that many years, as of Jan. 5, since the first two legal pot shops opened in Vancouver — and they say business is not booming. [CBC]

🧑‍⚖️ 252: The number of complaints made against judicial officers in BC, of which 10 made it to the examination stage. All were resolved, with 233 determined not to involve judicial misconduct. [Vancouver Sun]

DEVELOPMENT

Do view cones really stifle jobs?

Background: If you’ve spent any time on the #vanre debate on any social media platform, you’ve surely encountered the view cones debate. Depending on whom you ask, the view cones — rules around how high developers can build in certain areas to protect views of the North Shore mountains from a variety of angles in Vancouver — are NIMBY-created irrelevant obstacles to addressing Vancouver’s housing shortage, or they’re an iconic legacy of Vancouver planning.

Well, what if we told you they blocked thousands of jobs in Vancouver, too?

How? You may want to take the claim with a grain of salt — it’s analysis that, as reported by Daily Hive, came as part of a rezoning application for a 10-storey office building along Cambie St in the “FUCC” area of the city’s Broadway Plan. FUCC is an L-shaped area between Eighth and Second avenues just north of city hall, and it’s impacted by view cones 9.1 and 9.2, according to Daily Hive.

In all, the report claims those two view cones reduced development potential of up to 3.27 million square feet of floor space with employment potential of 16,000 jobs.

• This area is particularly primed for development, as it’s between two Canada Line stops — Olympic Village and Broadway-City Hall — and will be close to another Broadway subway stop.

What are people saying? The article has gotten some attention from Vancouver city councillors — namely, ABC councillors Sarah Kirby-Yung and Peter Meiszner, who both tweeted out the story, the former noting a review council has initiated of the city’s view cones with the potential to scrap some of them.

Kirby-Yung’s tweet included a note from the article that the view cones could be deemed “‘obsolete’ and/or ‘no longer functionally relevant.’”

The ratios: Both Kirby-Yung’s and Meiszner’s tweets were hit with dozens of replies — often a sign of controversy when, as in the case of both of their tweets, the replies outnumber the “likes.” While a number of the replies expressed support for removing the view cones, including one who suggested including viewing decks in new developments to see the North Shore mountains, the replies were overwhelmingly negative.

A sample of the response:

• “We have lots of space to build density in a way that doesn't destroy the livability of the city,” one Twitter user replied to Kirby-Yung.

• “Those numbers are not factual, they’re speculative. Vancouverites want the view cones, which help make our city what it is, and not more rampant tower development,” said another in response to Meiszner.

• One put it pretty simply: “Do you even like Vancouver?”

THE AGENDA

🚨 A man allegedly posed as a dad to try to take a five-year-old girl from a Vancouver daycare, according to the Vancouver Police Department. [The Canadian Press]

🧑‍🚒 Vancouver firefighters quickly doused a fire in a two-storey brick building in Chinatown Sunday morning just after 5 am. There were no occupants in the building, according to an assistant fire chief. [CityNews]

🇵🇸 Hundreds of people showed up Saturday afternoon at Creekside Park, near Science World, to rally in support of Palestine and march into downtown nearly three months after the current war began. [CityNews]

🐶 A single mom could face eviction from a YWCA building after getting a pet. She found out afterwards that she needed to apply, and when she applied, she was denied. A judge stayed her eviction until a judicial review of the Residential Tenancy Branch’s decision to uphold the eviction. [CityNews]

🚦 A pedestrian-controlled traffic light has been installed at West 4th Avenue and Waterloo Street, an intersection notorious for crashes. According to one resident, five pedestrians were hit in one six-month period. [Global]

🚗 You no longer need to leave your Evo on this side of Boundary Road if you’re going into some areas of Burnaby. The car sharing company expanded its Home Zone into the Willingdon Heights, Burnaby Heights and Metrotown areas. [CTV]

👅 An unnamed resident didn’t Get What They Want with their complaint about a Rolling Stones promotion at city hall, as Vancouver’s integrity commissioner had Sympathy for the Devil, finding Satisfaction that the $500 paid by the concert promoter more than covered the administrative costs. [CityNews]

🎨 Canada’s labour movement continues to be animated, with workers at Kickstart Entertainment voting to join IATSE’s Canadian Animation Guild Local 938. Kickstart is the third animation studio to organize in Vancouver amid a surge in labour activity in the country. [Cartoon Brew]

🍄 The medium was the message as local drug policy activist Dana Larsen stirred up some mushroom madness by mailing a gram of magic mushrooms and a coca leaf to all 87 MLAs for Christmas. The stated intent was to let politicians know drugs are harmless. [CBC]

EVENTS GUIDE

Thumpasaurus | Biltmore Cabaret | Jan. 18 at 7 pm | The Thump returns to Vancouver with a new album | Tickets $23

Soulstream with D.J. Just | Fox Cabaret | Thursday at 7:30 pm | A groovin’ night of funky, soulful music with the incredible 10-piece Soulstream | Tickets $28

Stardust Drag Brunch | Steamworks Brewpub | Sunday at 12:30 pm | A twinkling, sparkling drag fun time for the family | Tickets by donation

New Moon Gala | KPU Surrey | Thursday at 5 pm | Help raise funds for scholarships for Indigenous students, enjoy a three-course dinner and watch Indigenous performers | Tickets $75

Refuge Canada | Museum of Vancouver | To Feb. 2 | An examination of Canada’s role in the global refugee crisis with a look at history going back to the Second World War | Tickets $20

Casino Royale in Concert | The Orpheum | Friday and Saturday at 7 pm | Watch the 2006 Bond film on the big screen with the added experience of a full symphony orchestra | Tickets start at $21

Feral Domestic | Western Front | Jan. 13-Apr. 6 | A multi-channel installation featuring video, drawing and photography to contemplate queer desire, family and collaboration in a time of planetary crisis | Free admission

Crazy Diamonds | The Rio Theatre | Feb. 3 at 7 pm | The Pink Floyd tribute band kicks off 2024 with a performance of the band’s album Animals | Tickets $24

SPORTS

🏒 J.T. Miller, Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes continue to tally points this season, the first two netting two goals and the latter landing three assists in the Canucks’ Saturday night 6-4 win against the New Jersey Devils. [Globe and Mail]

⚽ ️ Whitecaps players are kicked off 2024 by returning to Vancouver for medicals at UBC yesterday and today. They’re heading to Marbella, Spain this week for training camp, before returning for their first game of the year next month. [Vancouver Sun]

👎 Logan Paul continues to be the worst — this time, he took a shot at the Canucks during the WWE Smackdown in Vancouver, saying Kevin Owens, a favourite of former Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau, had as much a chance of winning the US championship as the Canucks have of winning the Stanley Cup. [Vancouver is Awesome]

COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS

• Former Bachelor star Matt James and his girlfriend, Rachael Kirkconnell, toured Vancouver eateries in one day, shouting out on Instagram Sushi Hil, Pizzeria Farina and Say Hey Cafe & Deli. [Instagram]

• The sober drink trend continues with sober travel, or “dry tripping,” and local hotel The Burrard is making the best of it by offering guests complimentary liquor-free drinks. [Globe and Mail]

• Ever wondered what the best SkyTrain station is? Well, according to a team assembled by CBC journalist Justin McElroy, it’s Marine Drive, which he describes in his ranking of every station as “nothing out-of-this-world amazing” but doing “basically everything well.” [Straight]

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PICTURE OF THE DAY

GAME TIME

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