Tuesday - May 7, 2024 - BC's snowpack sticking around

🌧 High 15C

Good morning!

The other day, I handed my son a green cup. This was cause for celebration, he told me, because his favourite colour was green.

It got me thinking about tastes and identity. Around his age, kids basically define their entire identity based on what their favourite colour is. A decade later, in your late teens, the big question is (or was) “what kind of music do you listen to?” By your late 20s, your tastes have expanded colour- and music-wise. Maybe you even like TWO colours or music genres. So instead, your life revolves around a go-to food or drink. Then, finally, you get to your late 30s—my current age—and realize you can like a whole bunch of very different multiple drinks, foods, colours, and music styles!

Suddenly, you don’t have tastes. You have standards—a word we use to justify pickiness. So now, I’m mostly picky about one thing: drinking vessels. I’ve got my favourite beer glass, my preferred tea mug, and even my choice milk cup. Now, I’ll drink various things, so long as they’re in the right container. Whereas, I once would have drank beer out of a shoe, now I need it in the mug I got for Christmas (!). What have I become?

– Tyler

Support local journalism by supporting The Current. Become a Current Insider member today and help bring local stories to life.

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

Abbotsford’s most-crowded schools

Abbotsford’s middle schools are hundreds of students over capacity—and as their students get older in the coming years, the city’s high schools will also begin bursting at the seams.

A new report from the Abbotsford School Board says four of the city’s central schools are operating far beyond capacity. And three of those are in areas that are expected to see intense development in the coming years.

• Today, Tyler pulls apart the report that outlines the growing crunch in the city’s schools—even before the anticipated new development takes hold.

Related

Need to Know

🛹 A blind Aldergrove skateboarder is trying to raise awareness of how one can be visually impaired and active [Langley Advance Times]

👉 Six long-time Abbotsford residents were honoured for their contributions to the community [Abbotsford News]

🚗 The arrival of good weather means the return of pay parking in Harrison Hot Springs [Agassiz-Harrison Observer]

📉 Home sales were down in April compared to the previous year [Mission Record]

❄ Be prepared for snow if you’re driving the Coquihalla [Castanet]

🚔 Crime was down in Mission over the first three months of 2024 [Mission RCMP]

🔎 A missing Chilliwack woman has been found [Chilliwack Progress]

🖼 A new exhibit at Hope’s art gallery features three local artists [Hope Standard]

Enjoying our newsletter? Help us make it even better!

Become an Insider member and help keep local journalism and storytelling alive in the Fraser Valley.

SPONSORED BY ABBOTSFORD TECH DISTRICT

Preserving, maintaining, and enhancing trails

Abbotsford Tech District is committed to building up, not out, to enable more open space lands for habitats, trails and recreation.

They're working with stakeholders to preserve, maintain, and enhance trails, so developing the Tech District will result in more trails, not less.

Learn more here.

The Agenda

Small snowpack hanging around

A cool April and some precipitation has slightly improved BC’s snowpack situation heading into May. Although snowpacks across the province are still well below normal, the snow that does exist has hung around a little longer than normal, according to the latest information from the BC River Forecast Centre. The average snowpack at stations in the Fraser Basin was at 68% of normal on May 1, up from 64% of normal in mid-April. That will help mitigate some of the worst impacts on river levels and fish, but it’s still far less water than is typical. Melting is likely to accelerate at the end of this week. Although temperatures are below normal now, Prince George is expected to hit 25C by Friday before quickly receding.

Lytton greenlights temporary housing

Nearly three years after Lytton burned down, there is finally a plan to create temporary housing for workers rebuilding the village and local infrastructure.

Lytton council gave the go-ahead in mid-April for a large dorm-like facility with between 90 and 120 temporary rooms for workers, along with facilities for administration, dining, and recreation.

The new building would be built at an unused airstrip just north of the village site. A plant is also being built nearby to facilitate the production of concrete to be used in transportation and rebuilding projects.

A lack of temporary housing for both residents and workers has long been an obstacle to the rebuilding of the townsite, and efforts to clear structures and undertake archaeology work were slowed by the availability of workers and the distance from where many lived.

🔓️ Become a Current Insider for 25% off today and get full access to this newsletter. Every Tuesday, members get exclusive information on events, food and drink, and local deals.

You’ll also get our weekly behind-the-scenes newsletter and roundup on Saturday. And most of all, your contribution will allow us to keep producing all the great journalism you already know and love.

Catch up

That’s it!

Thanks for reading Fraser Valley Current today ♥️ 

If you found something useful, consider forwarding this newsletter to another local.

And before you go, please let us know: