Fr ar a ae acne a a nn een on ang La REG RCRA AO EY EEE Two of the habits Lloyd Johnstone has developed over many years of living at Lakelse Lake are feeding trumpeter swans that overwinter behind his home and keeping track of the weather. His records go back 30 years. Do anything about the we “The difference between a heavy snowfall winter and an ex- tremely wet winter can be just three degrees in temmperature,”’ said Lloyd Johnstone, a lifetime resident of the Terrace area. © by Pam Whitaker Johnstone has kept a daily record of the weather in the region for over 30 years. “About as long as the weather office at Terrace airport,’’ he said. As far as he’s concerned the seeming changes in weather patterns are cyclical. Adrian Van de Mosselaer, of- ficer in charge at the Terrace Weather Office Atmospheric Environment Service agrees with him. ‘‘In analyzing data over 30 year periods, the Canadian weather service may eventually detect the greenhouse effect causing a warming trend, but it cannot be noticed from year to year,’’ Van de Mosselaer said. “This year it has been warmer than normal but next year it could be colder.” January is not yet over, and as the weather office can only pre- dict five days in advance with any degree of accuracy, the final tally for the winter of 89/90 is - yet to be determined. _On average, the first two days of a given weather forecast are proven 80 percent accurate and the next three days, 20 percent accurate. Van de Mossclaer said hat weather reports heard on radio and TV are very general. _ Canadian (Terrace) cilizens are encouraged to phone in for a more specific.analysis. ‘For in- -$tance,’? he said, ‘if you’re go- ing to replace ‘the roof on your - house or. are going ona picnic — os give us a all =- we can-add a "degree of confidence lo your Well, you can keep track of it plans.’’ Longtime Terrace resident Er-' nie Sande said that he remembers picking roses in December and shovelling a lot of snow in March. Lloyd Johnstone pointed out that 1905-06 had similarities to this fall and winter. The follow- ing excerpt is taken from the 1906 Skeena River Hatchery Yearbook, written to Professor E.E. Prince, Dominion Com- missioner of Fisheries, Ottawa, from Thomas Whitwell, Officer in Charge: Sir; | have the honor to sub- mit herewith my fourth annual report of work done at the Skeena River Hatchery for the’ season 1905, 1906. (The hatch- ery was situated at the junction of Coldwater Creek and the Lakelse River about a mile from the lake, and was only con- cerned with sockeye fry as that was the recognized commercial fish at the time.) (Sept. 21, 1905)... we were very fortunate in getting the hatchery full of ova as il rained very hard for several days caus- ing a big flood which brought large cottonwood and ‘spruce trees down the river, smashing our fences and carrying one pen of fish away entirely, containing several hundreds of ripe sockeye. . . On Oct. 1. we had another flood; in) fact, nothing but floods and freshets since the fifth of August, which hindered us considerably in gelling our fences and pens out of the river. before the fourth of October, at which dale all work al the spawning grounds was Tinished. From that date we had heavy rains and on Nov. 13 we had the worst flood of the season; the water in the Lakelse River and Coldwater Creek overflowed the banks and we had two inches of. water on the hatchery floor. At one time it began to look serious, sO much so that we had the canoe and skiff tied up to the hatchery in case anything should occur. (On Nov, 16 the first fish hatched 88 days after spawning.) On Dec. 1, nine inches of snow fell, only to be followed by heavy rains which lasted until Jan. 9, and on the 2)st we hada cold snap, the thermometer go- ing down to 12 degrees below zero (F), from that time fine frosty weather with snow, and on Jan. 24, 47 inches of snow on the level, but from that date un- til the first week in April we had fine frosty weather with occa- sional snow falls. Lloyd Johnstone also recalls that during the winter of 1925-26 there was no cold weather at all. “That was the year the (old) Skeena Bridge was built,’’ he said. ‘‘They poured cement for the piers all winter. The Skeena River didn't freeze over ‘and neither did Lakelse Lake. “We're in the mountains and not far from the coast so we can expect ‘unpredictable weather,” he continued. ‘In Smithers the Hudsons Bay Mountain that year had more snow than usual,”’ “Asin much of B.C. 1947 was an extra cold winter here. It was down to 27 below zero and com- bined with the wind éhill factor the frost came right through the walls of our house,”’ He lived on Lakelse Ave. then, right where the Inn of the ‘West wine and beer store stands. ‘‘A: lot of cherry trees were lost,’’ he added. Johnstone continued to remi- nisce: ‘‘The last heavy snowfall year was 1973-74,. Canada’s greatest one day snowfall was recorded Jan. 17, 1974 at Lakelse Lake where 118.1 cen- timeters fell. That was the year of the avalanche near Terrace _ where, tragically, seven people lost their lives buried in one to eight meters of snow.” Forecasts to meet needs in the forestry, agriculture, and fishing industries as well as for national transportation and military uses - always have been a function of weather stations. ‘‘We meet commitments on an interna- tional scale,’? Adrian Van de Mosselaer said. The first permanent obser- vatory in this country was estab- lished in Toronto in 1840 by a British army officer. {t was iransferred to Canadian authori- ty in 1853. In. 1871 the Meteorological Service of Canada was established, and within five years, 115 stations were in existance. Fifteen of these began reporting three times ‘daily by telegraph to Toronto. With information compiled from 50 American sta- tions, the service was able to issue daily forecasts. Domestic and wartime avia- tion in the 1930's and 40's led to phenominal growth. By the 1950°s it had grown to an organization of 1,340 full time employees wilh offices and ae- tivities in all the provinces and districts. The methods of taking weather data haven’t changed all that much, according to Van de Mosselaer. The man on duty still continuously checks sky con- dition, temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure and winds — ‘eyeball thermometer’ it’s - called. Data is transmitted to Vancouver. ’ Satellites are helpful in the tracking of systems — filling in gaps where there are no obser- vatories .' Adrian Van de Mosselaer is cheerful about the perpetual ‘weatherman jokes’ and criticisms those in his profession endure. On his windowsill on the "sunny side of the new airport tower he has an item to prove it — a gift received in the past by someone at the office. It is a smallish rock suspended by an apparatus and is called Terrace Weather Forecast Rock. An ac- companying sign explains it: - When the rock is warm — it’s sunny. When the rock is wet — rainy. “When the rock glitters — fros- ty. When the rock snowy. When the ‘rock is swaying — windy. When the rock is gone — there’s a typhoon. The weathermen are secure in the knowledge that they provide an essential service (o Canadians in short-range forecasting. As far as long range local forecasts are concerned they would be in- clined to agree with pioneer. resident Floyd Frank: in the fall of *88 when asked whether he thought we would have a hard winter he replied: “Anyone that (ries to predict the weather in Terrace is a damned fool!” is wite —