By Cheryl Jahn

Recent storms “unprecedented”

Jul 23, 2024 | 3:48 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – None of the thunderstorms come as a surprise to those of us who live here, but they are to UNBC climatologist Dr. Joseph Shea, who referred to the most recent spate of storms in these parts as “unprecedented.”

“I don’t think we’ve seen a set-up like this in British Columbia since I’ve been here. And I’ve been in and around the province for the last twenty years,” says Dr. Shea. “I think the conditions yesterday were absolutely primed for this massive line of thunderstorms that rolled through the Central Interior and the Northeast.” He says, that early in his career, BC was called the special name.

“There have been studies on lightning across Canada and B.C. is like a dead zone compared to the rest of Canada. We don’t get a lot of lightning. We don’t get a lot of thunderstorms. I had a meteorology professor say this is where storms come to die, like they come off the Pacific and they kind of petered out when they hit the mountains.”

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He says the abnormally dry conditions through the winter and into spring exacerbated the problem.