Tweaking the Record

​An article in the January 3, 2024, North Shore News titled December 2023 likely warmest on record for North Shore was accompanied by a picture of oceanside sandbagging. The December 28th King Tide passed without incident, yet the subsequent story still used the image to convey environmental drama:

A Tiger Dam and sandbags were placed outside the Silk Purse Gallery at John Lawson Park on the West Vancouver waterfront Dec. 28 in preparation for possible flooding due to seasonal King tides. | Paul McGrath / North Shore News
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​Obviously, the intent was to link December temperatures with global warming, and in turn sea level rise. The orange Tiger Dam imprints a sense of emergency. Although the reporter knew the flooding never came to pass, she needed a visual hook.
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Starting the news piece with another departure from her warm temperature headline, the reporter begins: West Vancouver broke 11 weather records during December, starting with one for rainfall Dec. 4 during the drenching atmospheric river.

Weather information from the West Vancouver station only goes back to 1992, but at the Vancouver Airport (YVR) it goes back to 1937. At YVR, December 4, 2023, also involved the highest precipitation amount (49.8 mm) for that particular day, so it is safe to assume it would have been a record for West Vancouver if that data went that far back too.

However, heavy December rain in Vancouver is not unusual. Although December 4, 2023, involved a drenching atmospheric river, it was far from the worst in YVR history. In fact, it was just the 8th highest daily December amount. December’s most drenching atmospheric river dropped almost twice as much (89.4 mm) at the airport on Christmas Day 1972.

Getting on to temperature, there is no argument that December 2023 was warmer than normal in the Vancouver area. However, calling it the warmest on record is misleading in several ways. Brian Proctor, a Meteorologist with Environment Canada, was interviewed:

So far, records tabulated for main weather stations around the South Coast show the warmest December on record, said Proctor. In the case of Vancouver airport, the temperatures were the warmest since records started being kept in 1896, he said.

First, the warmest December on record at YVR was actually in 1939 – a monthly average daily maximum of 9.8 C. By comparison, the monthly average daily maximum for December 2023 at the airport was just 9.3 C. Again, because records at the West Vancouver station did not exist in 1939 we can’t directly compare data for that year, but it is likely that December 1939 was warmer than 2023 at that location too.

Second, apparently the Meteorologist said that the 2023 temperatures were the warmest at YVR since records started being kept in 1896. This adds further deception as there were no records kept by Environment Canada in the area of what is now the Vancouver Airport prior to 1937. Only 2 regional stations kept temperature records in 1896; New Westminster and Steveston … both of which were decommissioned in the 1960s.

With respect to the West Vancouver station, a direct quote from Proctor states: “I can say with complete confidence it will likely come out to be the warmest [December on record],”. This may be true for that location, given that records have only been kept there since 1992, however the casual North Shore News reader now incorrectly believes that more than 125 years of data are involved.

Articles such as this subtle manipulation of the facts is how the average person gets taken down the climate-garden path.
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