As 2022 draws to a close, we’re looking back at the top 10 New Westminster news stories of the year.
Yesterday, we brought you a reminder of one of those “only in New West” stories: the brouhaha over New Westminster’s “Royal City” branding, and the city’s decision to leave behind its crown-inspired image.
Today, we recap the year’s number 3 story with a look at that most ubiquitous of all conversation starters: the weather.
What’s the forecast? 2022 was another wild weather year in New Westminster
With the memories of the late-November snowstorm that brought traffic in the city to a halt, we headed to the files to check out all things weather-related from 2022.
Lo and behold, the year kicked off with a rarely seen snow day for New Westminster schools, thanks to a large dump of snow in early January. The snow day didn’t affect many kids, as it happened, because a full return to classes was delayed by Omicron. But it certainly provided a beautiful white backdrop for those who wanted to play in the snow — and a nightmare for drivers who’d have preferred anything but.
It was just the first of what would become a series of weather-related news stories throughout the year.
In June, Tracey McKinlay’s family went public with their sister’s story. The New Westminster woman was one of 619 British Columbians who lost their lives in the heat dome of 2021, and her sisters spearheaded a campaign to raise awareness of the need to protect vulnerable residents in the event of more extreme heat.
The heat didn’t return with the ferocity of 2022, but wildfires once again caused air quality problems throughout Metro Vancouver at times throughout the summer.
Much more unusually, however, the heat and air quality issues extended well into the fall — with air quality advisories, smoky skies and glowing red sunrises in New Westminster well into October.
Then November arrived, and with it a massive windstorm that knocked out power and uprooted some giant trees around New Westminster — including one that blocked access to the Quayside neighbourhood when it came down on the McInnes overpass, and another that fell on the HSBC bank uptown. Queensborough was the hardest-hit neighbourhood, suffering the highest degree of damage from falling trees and branches.HSB
The city warned people to stay away from treed parks and public spaces as it worked to clean up damage throughout New Westminster.
New West barely had time to catch its breath when the next big weather event arrived: the Nov. 29 storm that started with a snowfall warning and ended up in a night of chaos, as bridges closed and traffic around the region ground to a halt.
In New Westminster, major routes came to a standstill as drivers had nowhere to go. The city opened a warming centre at Queen’s Park Arena that stayed open until past 2 a.m. to offer refuge for stranded drivers. And around the city, residents stepped up to help — spending hours pushing stuck cars up hills, offering food and drinks to folks stuck in traffic, and even opening their homes for commuters to use washrooms and get warm. In Queensborough, volunteers from the gurdwara offered food and hot drinks to drivers and provided a place to sleep for those who couldn’t make it home at all.
The night of chaos led regional politicians, including New Westminster city councillor Daniel Fontaine, to call for a "snow summit" with regional and provincial officials to help debrief on what led to the problems and try to stop it from happening again.
And, just when we thought we'd escaped the year, along came another dump of snow — complete with freezing rain — to cause some more chaos leading up to Christmas weekend.
Whew.
In short? That was more than enough weather excitement for one year. Let’s hope Mother Nature decides to play it cool and serve us up a boring year in 2023.
Follow Julie MacLellan on Twitter @juliemaclellan.
Email Julie, [email protected]
