HALIFAX – Extreme weather in Atlantic Canada was a major topic of discussion as mayors from the region met in Halifax on Thursday.
At the Atlantic Mayors’ Congress, Halifax Mayor Mike Savage said his city is looking for ways to be more prepared for extreme weather that is becoming an increasingly frequent occurrence.
“Climate change is a fact of life,” he said. “It’s affecting weather…and it’s becoming harder and harder to predict,” he said.
During last year’s winter season, there were 50 weather events Halifax over a span of 20 weeks. This year, the city saw 39 winter weather events in only 10 weeks.
The city plowed through its $20-million snow-removal budget for 2014-15 and crews had to deal with weather they don’t typically see. Despite the rough weather, there are no immediate plans to increase the budget for snow-clearing operations.
“We basically had twice the winter in half the season,” said Darren Natolino, superintendent of the city’s winter works. “When you think about it in those terms, do you necessarily tear apart a snow program just because we had one bad winter?”
Flooding is another issue and it’s becoming a year-round concern across Nova Scotia. Robin Tress of the Ecology Action Centre in Halifax says there are two primary concerns.
“One is sea level rise. We’re expecting about 1.2 metres of sea level rise, which is almost four feet,” she said. “We’re also expecting more storms and more severe storms.”
Will Green, who monitors climate change with the province’s Department of Environment, said the concern is that severe weather could become the new normal.
“Certainly when we look at the climate projections going forward into the future, extreme weather is something that we are concerned about,” he said. “We’re expecting to see increases in temperature and also some increases in precipitation, rainfall and also extreme rainfall as well.”
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