AlQ- The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, January 15, 2003 Warm December weather © adds to an unusual year BLUE SKIES, ereen grass and unusually warm weather have made for a wacky winter so far. “For the second month in a row Terrace was close to three deprees above normal,” says Environment Canada official Bill Miller. December saw only nine days with temperatures fall- ing below zeto. That makes December 2002 the ninth warmest on re- cord, Miller says. The lithe snow the Terrace area did receive in De- cember has not stayed around. The last two days of December saw 26.4 cm of the white stuff fall. December 2002 is noted for having the seventh least snowfall since records began in 1953, Miller said. The airport reported light precipitation for the month _ reporting 88 per cent of the normal rainfall. The heaviest one-day rainfall happened Dec. 12 when 29.0 mm of rain fell, The first six days of the month re- corded no precipitation but every other day reported at least a trace, Miller said. Only 14 cm of snow fell in the entire month of De- cember with the highest snowfall recorded occurring 1 in 1964 when 131 3c cm n of snow fell, - The month’s total for rainfall was 272.4 mm white in 1989 maximum monthly rainfall occurred totalling 326.3. mm. The lowest temperature reached in December was - 7,2C and the high was 6.6C. Record highs for that month happened in 1980 when the mercury reached 11.3C and the lowest temperature on record is a bone-chilling -26.7C in 1964. Overall 2002 was a dry year with the hottest day see- ing temperatures rise to 31.8C June 14. The coldest day of the year was Jan.27 when the tem- perature dropped to -13.8C. The month of March 2002 proved to be the coldest March on record. Passenger numbers drop THE NUMBER of passengers who flew in and out of Terrace’s airport in 2002 was down from the year before. The Northwest Regional Airport logged 89,252 pas- senger movements during the year. That was down from 95,814 in 2001. The stats also show the airport had 74 flights missed due to bad weather during the year, with another 68 flights missed or cancelled: due to other reasons. Smile and Whitening By Dr, Zucchiatti ADENT DENTAL CLINIC Phone: 635-2552 4623 Lakelse Avenue, Terrace Mon-Fri ® 8:00 am - 5:00 pm BEAUTIFUL SMILE By Dr. Joe Zucchiatti General Practitioner Providing services in: Mercury-tree white fillings Teeth Whitening Porcelain Veneers and Crowns Microabrasion Dentistry (No drilling, no freezing) Hygiene and Preventive Care Intra-oral camera assisted Diagnosis For your comfort, we have overhead televisions and headsets. We Welcome All New Patients Provincial “Health Services Our doctors and nurses are among the most qualified and = _ highest paid health | ~ care professionals : I Canada. “Fraser. | Health” _ $73,650 per year this year include: to the job - doctors’ job satisfaction “Northern | Health 7 | imerior | | Health | Vancouver Coastal . Health ee More Doctors and Nurses. Doctors and nurses play a vital role in providing high- quality patient os care in BC, and there are shortages of them both nationally and internationally. To address this, British Columbia has a plan to attract, train and retain the best doctors and nurses. BC doctors and nurses are now among the highest paid in Canada: ® Nurses wages have increased 23% and they are now the highest.” “es paidin Canada with starting compensation} pay arid benefits of" . © BC doctors received a 20% increase in annual fees and salaries 7 ° BCr now spends $600 per year on doctors for every individual. - person in BC, $100 more per person than any other province Total compensation for doctors and nurses is now $3.7 billion dollars, representing 35% of the total health care budget We've also taken steps to reduce the shortage of nurses and doctors by - ~_ creating more training opportunities. Specific actions we are taking “6 * Adding 1,266 new nurse training spaces * Recruiting new nurses and helping 400 former nurses return oe oe 8 » Doubling medical school spaces by 2005.» 6 ® Strengthening physician services in regional: centers to ‘improve oe ao With these initiatives, BCs valued: health profesor wil be able to ee provide quality patient. care well into the future. noe . Tolearn more about these and other plans to modernize : _ | our health care system. Call 1-800-465-4911 orvisit ~ www.gov.bc.ca/bchealthcare | Vancouver | Island Health. es