The Canadian PNW seems to be different than further out east. I have noticed that the jet stream undulates such that the extreme winter cold stays east of the Rockies (generally speaking). This means that the PNW is getting warmer winters overall with far less snow in the mountains, leading to droughts in the summer.
Hell, my own area essentially never had a winter this last winter. We had only two “snowfalls” in the valley bottom, and neither lingered more than 12-18hrs before melting away. The average tends to be a good 30cm of accumulation that lingers for a month or more.
So hotter and drier years overall, and the end of real winters. I fully expect to be able to plant cold-tolerant palm trees (the kind you see in Vancouver) within the next decade, and have them survive year round without special protections. We’re USDA Zone 6a or 7a depending on who you reference, but the valley bottom just got officially reclassified as 7b.
The Canadian PNW seems to be different than further out east. I have noticed that the jet stream undulates such that the extreme winter cold stays east of the Rockies (generally speaking). This means that the PNW is getting warmer winters overall with far less snow in the mountains, leading to droughts in the summer.
Hell, my own area essentially never had a winter this last winter. We had only two “snowfalls” in the valley bottom, and neither lingered more than 12-18hrs before melting away. The average tends to be a good 30cm of accumulation that lingers for a month or more.
So hotter and drier years overall, and the end of real winters. I fully expect to be able to plant cold-tolerant palm trees (the kind you see in Vancouver) within the next decade, and have them survive year round without special protections. We’re USDA Zone 6a or 7a depending on who you reference, but the valley bottom just got officially reclassified as 7b.