Hi Marie,

Thanks for the link. I had to remove the blanks from the link. Something about bcmc.ca is adding blanks into the link. If anyone pastes the link into the browser address bar be sure to remove blanks or the %20.

Hi Paul,

Very interesting comment about the weak El Niño. I think you are right: have a look at this very interesting article on the subject:

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/ne ws/articles/januarys-el-nino-update /43720/

Apparently, weak El Niño bring unusually warm temperatures on the West Coast (while stronger El Niño don't).

Baker also posted some historic data on very bad years on their website and in addition to the 2004/05 season you mention, there is the 1976/77 season. And that year was also a weak El Niño year. However, for both seasons, the weak El Niño ended in the middle of the winter and the springs were good. But this year, we might not be that lucky: according to the weather network article above, the weak El Niño is forecast to maintain for a couple of months and there is thus little hope that things will get better.