Dry and Hot - Spring and Summer 2015

It was a dry and hot early summer in southwest BC. We saw very little rain in May and June (May 4.2 mm vs. 60 mm average, June 11 mm vs. 59 mm) and many temperature records were broken in the second half of June. Cliff Mass blogs about this heat wave here.

Lack of rain in addition to this year's very low snow pack is a bad recipe for the wild fire season. Several big fires are burning already (Elaho, Boulder, Sechelt). Here is hoping for cooler temperatures and rain!

Smoke from the Boulder Creek fire creeping into Pemberton Valley

Jupiter and Venus getting close - June 30

Venus and Jupiter getting up close and personal in the western night sky (a conjunction). If you look close you can see 4 of Jupiter's moons, called the Galilean moons. Galileo observed and described them in 1610.

Venus and Jupiter June 31, 2015

Jupiter's moons. I wonder if the different colors are for real or an artifact?