When the Okanagan Valley was a grassland, it was cold in the winter. The grass stretched up to the high country forests. In the valley floor, orchards were planted, then cities, and now there is no grass. The orchards and vineyards captured heat from the sun, and warmed the grass. Now the snow is sleet, drifting through apple factories that were once orchards full of trees growing out of grass. It melts as quickly as it comes, and if it stays on the ground the densely packed trees melted it away. We like to blame the oil patch, though. They have their share of global warming. This is ours.

Okanagan Landing, 11 a.m. December 24, 2014

The good news is that if we did this, we can fix it.