Lightning strikes surge throughout Western Canada
04 July 2021
Lightning strikes in Western Canada have surged over the past few days, triggered in part by an unprecedented heatwave that also induced wildfires, Reuters reports.
The big picture: British Columbia, which usually accounts for about 5% of Canada's yearly lightning strike total, reported its annual number in less than 48 hours.
- A meteorologist, who tracks lightning, noted about 710,000 lightning events in British Columbia and Alberta Wednesday.
Driving the news: The onslaught of wildfires enduring in the area has resulted in a high moisture level in the atmosphere.
- The moisture ultimately fuels its own towering thunderstorms and a surge of lightning strikes that itself has caused several forest fires, per Reuters.
- The fires are expected to burn through 247,105 acres by the end of the weekend, a higher figure than in previous years.
Go deeper: Ferocious wildfires destroy British Columbia town amid historic heat
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.