This time last year, June was infamously nicknamed Junuary for its record coldness. The first ten days of June 2008 were the second coolest since 1892. What a difference a year makes! This June, with precipitation totals just 22.6 mm, a whopping 71 per cent below normal, it was the driest June since 1965 when that year was the record-setter at just 12.7 mm. With this June’s mean temperature of 18.06oC, it was “an unusual 2.26oC above normal, well in excess of the standard 1.6oC deviation rate, (making it) the warmest June since 1982,” said Roger Pannett, volunteer weather observer for Environment Canada.

It’s been like this pretty much everywhere in British Columbia and according to Environment Canada we could be heading for some water supply challenges throughout the south and central Interior, Vancouver Island and the south coast. Heat and lack of rain may well be in our long range forecast.

“What you see is what you’re going to get,” said David Phillips, senior climatologist with the Meteorological Service of Canada. “It’s going to be warmer and dryer than normal.”

None of that bodes well in the face of the fire season, which has already got off to an explosive start. In fact, the number of forest fires that have started so far this year total almost half for all of 2008. As at July 4th, there have been 882 forest fires that have burned 38,758 in just the past three months compared to 2008 which saw 2,024 fires burn 13,211 hectares. The fire hazard has become extreme and, as of July 3rd, there is a ban on campfires and open fire burns throughout the coastal fire region including Chilliwack Forest District.

Excessive heat, dryness and air pollution from wild fires all impact health. In a report “Climate Change and Health in British Columbia” released by the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions last winter, researchers at the universities of Victoria, British Columbia and Simon Fraser outlined how climate change will likely affect people’s health in the future as the weather gets warmer, wetter and more extreme.

The problem, though, is that little has been done to quantify the impact of weather patterns on health and the researchers are urging a made-in-B.C. health policy to get ahead of the curve in the road ahead, especially for vulnerable and aboriginal communities. “While there is strong evidence for shifts in climate in British Columbia, there is virtually no direct evidence yet available on the impact of climate change on human health,” the report states.

But it’s out there. With warmer winters, the mountain pine beetle has infested over 90 per cent of the pine forests. Dead standing trees are a fire hazard but what about the dangers of respiratory diseases? In the weeks following the catastrophic 2003 fire season near Kelowna, the number of people visiting physicians increased between 46 per cent and 78 per cent over the previous 10-year norm. They also showed symptoms of physical and mental exhaustion and post-traumatic stress disorder underscoring the fact that fires lead to complex and chronic health conditions.

Loss of forests will aggravate rapid water runoff in the spring increasing the threat of flooding and water contamination that will lead to water-borne diseases.

Then there are fungus issues. With the province’s climate warming, Cryptococcus gatti, a yeast-like fungus found in tropical regions, appeared on Vancouver Island in 1999 and is now spreading to the Lower Mainland. It has caused lung infections in over 200 people as well as health issues in dogs, cats, horses, llamas and ferrets.

Warm weather might be welcome but adapting to a warming climate may come with its own health challenges.