Wednesday - April 30, 2025 - Why woodchips are out on local playgrounds

🌧 High 19C

Good morning!

For a whole host of reasons, the election just one of them, the last week has been exceptionally busy and I’m running on a lot of caffeine and not much sleep.

All of which is why today, we’re going to use our main story slot to highlight an utterly fascinating story on everybody’s favourite discussion topic: the accuracy of weather forecasts.

If that’s not your flavour of the day, here’s a fascinating website that lets you pretend you’re a raindrop by clicking on a spot on the earth and seeing the path the water would take to get to the ocean.

– Tyler

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Traffic & Weather

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope 

🚘 Driving today? Check the current traffic situation via Google, and find DriveBC’s latest updates.

🛣 Click here for links to road cameras across the Fraser Valley, including those for the Coquihalla, Highway 7, Hope-Princeton, Fraser Canyon, and Highway 1 in Langley and Abbotsford.

News

Worse weather. Better weather forecasters.

The Earth’s weather is increasingly volatile. Climate change is leading to more severe weather events. Our weather, probably, is increasingly hard to predict.

And yet, despite all that, humans are getting much better at actually forecasting our weather.

• Today, we are sharing a fascinating story by Our World In Data about meteorologists’ increasing ability to predict weather days from now, and the benefits to society of better, more reliable forecasts.

Related

Need to Know

⚾ A new advocacy group is calling for more recreation facilities in Abbotsford and planning to present a petition to the city next month [Abbotsford News]

⚖ A former MMA fighter from Abbotsford has admitted to driving his vehicle into an Aldergrove police building [Langley Advance Times]

🤝 Victorious Mission-Matsqui-Abbotsford Conservative candidate Brad Vis says he supports working with other parties to make Parliament function, while the local NDP candidate hailed Vis’s past work advocating for locals [Mission Record]

🏹 A Mission man is facing charges after allegedly pointing a bow at a neighbour [Mission Record]

🚔 Abbotsford police say they used ‘covert tactics’ to arrest a young driver who tried to evade them [Abbotsford Police/Facebook]

👋 After nearly three decades, Gerry Dyble is retiring as the head of Hope’s Cedar Strong Prevention and Intervention Society [Hope Standard] / We spoke to Dyble in March about the struggles faced by Hope’s youth [FVC]

🤠 Why Alberta is becoming a hotbed for food industry expansion. Companies are drawn to Alberta’s transportation corridors, streamlined permitting, affordable land, and direct access to U.S. and global markets. Read the full article here.*

🤖 Come to MTM BC Place: activities, hotdog combo, The Wild Robot. Donate tickets for a family who wouldn't be able to attend without your support!*

🍴 Today is your last chance to vote for your favourite restaurants in Metro Vancouver in the Georgia Straight’s 2025 Golden Plates! Vote for your favourites here.*

*Sponsored Listing

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The Agenda

Rubber to replace woodchips at Chilliwack park

Kids playing at Chilliwack’s Jinkerson Park in Promontory will not have to run through woodchips anymore.

Chilliwack council approved the installation of a new rubber surface for the playgrounds at Jinkerson Park. The rubber material will be poured in place where the woodchips currently are. The installation cost is around $192,000.

The park has recently undergone a number of upgrades, including the creation of two new dog parks, a pump track, and an enclosed basketball court.

Although relatively expensive, rubber surfaces are increasingly popular for playgrounds because they improve accessibility for children with mobility devices, while mulch can obscure hazards like broken glass, and require regular re-stocking.

Jansen wins valley’s closest race

With all polls counted for Cloverdale—Langley City, Conservative incumbent Tamara Jansen has finally been confirmed the winner of the riding, which saw the region’s closest race.

Jansen and Liberal candidate Kyle Latchford were within 1,000 votes of each other throughout the count, and results for the final polls were not released until Tuesday. Although those polls slightly narrowed Jansen's lead, it was not enough to allow Latchford to upset the incumbent.

Jansen ended the election with 25,607 votes—or 48% of the ballots. Latchford was 769 votes behind, with 46% of the vote. You can find the official Elections Canada results for every Canadian riding here.

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🗓 Things to do

Stagecoach talk: Historian Ken Mather will speak at the Chilliwack Museum on Thursday about the British Columbia Express company, which ran a stagecoach line from Yale to Barkerville. Details online.

Langley car show: DW Poppy Secondary School in Langley hosts its annual car show on Sunday. Proceeds from the 26th annual show go to support purchases of tools for the trades room, a tire mounting machine, lathes, and new equipment for the foods room. Details online.

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Catch up

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