Most of us breathed a collective sigh of relief a couple of weeks ago when, despite dire warnings, we were spared the worst of Typhoon Songa’s remnants as it lashed the Pacific Northwest.
Still, this near-miss was a reminder that we’re not exempt from extreme weather, as we dealt with peripheral wind and rain instead.
Tens of thousands of capital-region residents still remember all too vividly the infamous Blizzard of ‘96, which was arguably the most extreme weather event we’ve had in these parts in the past 20 years.
Extreme Weather, Sean Casey’s new Imax documentary that opens Friday at Imax Victoria, is a sobering reminder of just how vulnerable we all are to such meteorological mayhem in this era of climate change.
Narrated by Michael C. Hall, which is ominous in itself — this is the guy who plays a serial killer who murders serial killers in Dexter, after all — Extreme Weather is a frightening cautionary tale indeed.
As anyone who follows local forecasts is well aware, our weather can be as unpredictable as Donald Trump’s antics during the U.S. presidential campaign. Anything can happen.
In Extreme Weather, this applies to the ferocious tornados Oklahoma native Justin Walker chases across the American heartland in attempts to place sensors within them to determine if outbreaks are growing more extreme.
It’s like watching a scene out of Hollywood’s Twister or Into the Storm as Walker and his partner Herb Stein chase these destructive forces of nature, position their instruments and get out of there in the nick of time.
Casey, best known as the star of Discovery Channel’s hit series Storm Chasers, is at his best while chronicling these other-worldly sequences, as you would expect from the creator of a Tornado Intercept Vehicle.
While Extreme Weather lacks the visceral pull and depth of Casey’s last Imax entry, Tornado Alley — it’s much more conventional and somewhat disjointed — there is no shortage of fascinating footage.
The gripping tornado action is intercut with sequences that give us a close encounter with spectacularly collapsing glaciers in Alaska, where Erin Pettit and her research team use scientific instruments to measure just how fast these glaciers are melting, and dramatic imagery of firefighters battling intense wildfires sparked by a drought in California.
We also learn that such infernos have an impact on the polar ice melt.
Who knew that the smoke from these wildfires created toxic weather systems of their own, and that their ash could travel to the poles and darken glaciers, making them absorb more heat and melt faster?
Some of the film’s most striking and memorable images are of a jet spewing massive clouds of fire retardant while flying over raging wildfires at what seems a dangerously low altitude, and shots of the impact of such dynamic forces on nature, as when a frightened bunny scampers away from a burning forest, a black dog appears to be trying to outrun a tornado and Alaskan seals drift by on a melting glacier.
The most chilling aspect of Extreme Weather is the film’s assertion that the escalation of severe droughts, intense storms, hurricanes and increased snowfalls is attributable to the rise in global temperatures.
The pervasive message is that by achieving a greater understanding of the science behind extreme weather, we can take measures to reduce the likelihood it will further endanger our lives.
Spectacular visual evidence is accompanied by some interesting observations, such as one about the dangers of flying debris from tornados, but the film as a whole isn’t as cohesive or compelling as it might have been.
What: Extreme Weather
Where: Imax Victoria, Royal B.C. Museum, 675 Belleville St.
When: Opens Friday. Showtimes daily at 10 a.m., 1, 4 and 6 p.m.
Tickets, info: imaxvictoria.com
Rating: three stars (out of five)