Chilly nest

More from the cold snap. From the hill where they've clearcut the forest, leaving a view over Seymour Narrows, the water looked strange, almost as if it were blue land, bumpy and solid-looking, almost as if you could walk on it. The smoother areas looked more like ice than like sea water. The temperature had dropped to 12 below zero Celsius, and the wind was vicious, especially in this area, creating a wind chill in the vicinity of -20°.

Looking northeast. The photo doesn't show the cross-hatching in the lighter areas.

I looked back at January temperatures for Campbell River over the last 30 years. The lowest it ever got, one day in 2004, was 10 below zero; the usual range was between 10 above and 5 below zero.

And the eagle nest is still there, still in use.

Two eagles standing guard. One above, one below.

I once saw, in Bella Coola, an eagle whose talons had frozen around his perch in -20° weather, hanging upside-down from the branch. I wonder what these two think of the unaccustomed chill. No protection from the wind in this tree now that their forest is gone.

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Hacía frio. Pasando por el sitio donde han cortado todo el bosque, dejando una vista sobre el Estrecho Seymour, vi que el agua, agua salada, se veía muy extraña, como si fuera tierra sólida, pero azul. Parecía que se pudiera caminar allí; hasta donde el agua se veía más clara, más bien parecía hielo. La temperatura había bajado a 12 grados bajo cero, y con el viento helado, muy fuerte en este sitio, daba un enfriamiento eólico de unos 20 grados bajo cero.

Foto: El Estrecho Seymour, viendo hacia el noroeste.

Revisé las temperaturas obtenidas en enero durante los últimos 30 años aquí en Campbell River. La temperatura más baja, un dia en 2004, fue de 10 grados bajo cero. La temperatura normal variaba entre 10 grados sobre cero, y 5 grados bajo cero.

Foto: Y el nido de águilas sigue en uso.

Una vez vi, en el norte, en Bella Coola, un águila cuyas garras se habían congelado sobre su rama, con la temperatura aproximadamente unos 20 grados bajo cero. El pobre pájaro colgaba cabeza abajo, fijado en su percha. Me pregunto qué pensarán estos dos águilas de este frio inusitado. En ese árbol, ahora sin bosque alrededor, nada les protege del viento.

Dreaming of icebergs

It's too hot. Too #$@&%*! hot.

Granted, for the rest of the world, we have it good here in Campbell River, but it's all what you're used to, and what you have ways to cope with.

Today, it reached 31 degrees Celsius here. We're lucky; over on the mainland, not too far away, and north of here, in Lillouet, it was 38 today. The weather people have put out heat warnings; stay cool, people!

In BC, it used to be unusual to find air conditioning in homes. In 2001, only about 10% of households were air conditioned. In the last few years, that percentage has gone up to 34%, and growing. (Report by BC Hydro)

I looked up the historical records for Campbell River, and found these graphs:

Averages and maximums, 1981 to 2010, a few blocks from my house, just above the high tide line.

August is the hottest month, and in those 30 years, the maximum temperature was 23.3 degrees.

Going back further, 1961 to 1990. Maximum for this period: 22.4 degrees.

I grew up in this climate. No wonder I'm feeling the heat!

(In the middle of the stuffy night, I drowsily consider a move to Nunavut. [Photo by Clare Kines] [On Twitter]  Where the icebergs float in the bay, and the permafrost is just that: permanent. Come morning, I change my mind; it's too hot to think of packing.)