Winter 2023/2024 in the East Kootenay was a doddle, wasn’t it?

Aside from a few nasty days and nights, at least for those of us blessed to live with roofs over our heads and luxuries such as heating and running water, this past winter was one of the easiest in recent memory.

This was because it was an El Niño (little boy) winter, derived from warming of the surface of the Pacific Ocean in the eastern and central tropics.

Oftentimes El Niño means a moist winter but this wasn’t the case for most of British Columbia and that means – fire season will be the antithesis to a doddle.

Lower than usual snowpack, lower water tables and reservoirs and already parched forest floors means, short of an absolute drenching of a spring, a long and potentially horrific wildfire season (summer).

Everyone in B.C. should be prepared with ready-to-go evacuation kits and plans in place and sharp, focused minds on not adding to potential disasters.

With that cheery retrospective and prediction in place, here are some pretty and indicative images of how winter passed in the East Kootenay, captured from our occasional forays in the region.

Images were taken in or around: ?aqam; Cranbrook; Fairmont Hot Springs; Fort Steele; Invermere; Kimberley; Norbury Lake Provincial Park; Tie Lake/Jaffray; Wycliffe.

Lead image: Wildhorse Creek and Fisher Peak near Fort Steele. Ian Cobb/e-KNOW photo

Ian Cobb and Carrie Schafer/e-KNOW photos

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