We are newcomers to this region, so we don’t know what weather is normal and what is unusual. That has also been true of other places where we lived. Sometimes it seems that no matter what weather is occurring you can find a local person who will say the weather is unusual this year. We have joked about record weather years in the other places where we have lived. Nonetheless, I think it is safe to say that it is dryer than normal in the Pacific Northwest this year. The skies are smoky. We look at Mount Baker, a prominent feature in our region through hazy, smoky skies. We are able only to see the dimmest outlines of the islands in the bay - islands that normally are clearly visible. It isn’t just smoke. The grass has gone dormant in many places due to drought. I can notice the difference in our neighborhood lawns because I was paying close attention to lawns in this neighborhood a year ago. Next week will bring the anniversary of our closing on the purchase of this house. Mowing the lawn was one of the first chores of ownership that I undertook. I won’t need to mow the lawn this week.

What we remember is that a month after we moved, many areas of the county were inundated with flooding. The Nooksack river set several records for flooding in November last year. It wasn’t just the Nooksack. The entire Frasier River System in Canada, just north of here was flooding and causing all kinds of problems for residents.

So far it is not flooding this year.

On the Neekas river, in British Columbia, across from the north end of Vancouver Island, a research team from Simon Fraser University have discovered what they estimate to be 65,000 salmon dead in the river. The cause of the deaths was suffocation. The oxygen in the river was depleted. Water was unusually low this fall due to the drought. A small amount of rain a few days ago triggered the start of the salmon migration. The fish swim out of the ocean and up fresh water streams to spawn. The rain, however, was a false signal. There wasn’t enough water in the river to support the migration. As the salmon consumed the oxygen in the river, there wasn’t enough for those following them. The dead salmon released ammonia into the water which exacerbated the problems for the fish coming after them. The result was a record mass die-off event. Researchers say that human caused global climate change is definitely a contributing factor to the loss of the salmon.

Salmon populations are already at critical lows. Since time immemorial, people have lived along the coasts and have been dependent upon the salmon as their major source of protein. Just as buffalo - American Bison - was the primary protein source on the plains where we have lived for most of our lives, salmon was the critical natural food source in this part of the world.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the globe, Sydney, Australia is setting new records each day for rainfall. With almost three months left to go, Australia’s largest city has already exceeded the wettest year on record since records began in 1858. As of yesterday, Sydney has received over 87 inches of rain this year. Flooding is occurring in many places around the area.

It isn’t just Australia. In many places in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa are experiencing flooding. Flooding in Pakistan has been deadly. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and India have all experienced flooding this year. Record flooding in Europe has stunned scientists.

The distribution of rainfall around the globe has never been equal. There have always been places more prone to drought and other places prone to rain. But patterns are definitely shifting. The forests to our north are part of what has been for centuries temperate rainforest. The florist floors are filled with ferns, mushrooms, and other fauna that are dependent upon rain.

In a normal year, this would be mushroom harvest season in the backwoods of British Columbia. Mushroom foragers, however, are returning empty-handed this year. The fungi are not appearing due to a lack of rain. The price of morels and other wild mushrooms continues to rise as the supply declines.

We aren’t accustomed to foraging for our food. Other than cruising up and down the aisles in the grocery store, and noticing occasional empty shelves where peanut butter or ginger snaps normally appear, we haven’t been directly affected by the shifts in climate. I’ve been meaning to learn more about local fishing and shellfish harvesting, but it hasn’t become a priority for me. And we didn’t do much gardening this year. We have a very small yard. Other than a great run of cherries from our yard earlier in the summer and a current abundance of tomatoes that we are enjoying, we don’t have produce to harvest from our yard. We’ve got some ideas about planting a bit more garden next year, but we have access to water to irrigate if needed.

Still, it is fair to say that for those who have lived in this area for a long time and who are accustomed to its seasons and conditions, this has been a strange year of weather. Like our neighbors, I am cautiously hoping for rain. It would feel good to have the dust and smoke settled. It would be good to have the yards green up once again. It would be good to have the ferns and other undergrowth in the forest thriving once again. I’d even put up with a bit of mud and gray skies in exchange for the rain. However, we’ll have to wait and see for now. I’m not seeing much of a chance of rain in the ten day forecast in our region. Temperatures are forecast to remain warm at least through the middle of the month.

We’ve got a lot to learn about this new place we now call home.