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Extreme weather slamming Canada from coast to coast this weekend

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Winter is back with a vengeance.

Half the country is under extreme weather warnings going into the weekend, after an unusually warm and dry start to the winter season for most of Canada.

A polar vortex is sweeping in from the Arctic through the West, while a storm swirling up from Texas is wreaking havoc in the East, leaving millions of Canadians facing down snowstorms or severely cold temperatures.

“We’ve got really, really, really cold air coming down from the Arctic in the west. And then in the East, we have this really potent weather system that’s coming up from the south,” said Jesse Wagar, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada.

“In the wintertime we do get these really dynamic weather patterns, but I think the the intensity of the systems that are moving through right now in this weather pattern is pretty unusual.”

 

Why is Western Canada so c-c-cold right now?

 

CBC News Science and Climate Specialist Darius Mahdavi explains the global climatic systems that are causing such a cold snap in British Columbia and the Prairies.

What’s happening in Western Canada

Environment Canada has issued extreme cold warnings for all of Alberta and Saskatchewan, as well as large parts of B.C., Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Manitoba.

B.C.’s capital, Victoria, registered its coldest Jan. 12 on record, hitting -11 C Friday, while Vancouver dipped to a windy -12 C and is expected to feel like somewhere between -10 and -20 C with wind chill through the weekend. Environment Canada said the coldest spot in B.C. on Friday morning was the Puntzi Mountain airport in the Cariboo region, which hit –48.1 C.

Temperatures in Prince George, B.C., plunged to below -35 C on Friday, Jan. 12 with the wind chill factor dropping below -42 C. (Andrew Kurjata/CBC)

Blowing snow contributed to numerous crashes in B.C.’s Lower Mainland Thursday.

Alberta was hit with a brutal cold snap this week after cruising through its hottest December on record.

Environment Canada updated its extreme cold warnings Friday, saying temperatures in Edmonton and Calgary will continue to fall through the weekend, with temperatures ranging from -40 to -48 C Saturday and Sunday mornings and wind chill values near -55 C.

A woman carries a dog during a period of cold weather in Vancouver on Friday. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

“Some of the temperatures that we are seeing in Western Canada, not only is it incredibly cold compared to what we’ve seen recently, but they’re record-breaking temperatures in general,” Wagar said.

The Alberta Motor Association has been inundated with roadside assistance calls, and at 4:09 p.m. MT was reporting wait times of 144 hours for a tow or 72 hours for a battery boost.

An icy look at downtown Edmonton as an extreme cold snap continued Friday. (Manuel Carrillos Avalos/Radio-Canada)

Similar temperatures are expected across Saskatchewan through the weekend, and on Friday all buses serving Saskatoon Public Schools were cancelled due to extreme cold, with temperatures falling below -30 C.

Several Manitoba school divisions closed schools and highways due to a snowstorm earlier this week before temperatures dropped, blanketing much of the north and western regions of the province with extreme cold warnings. Winnipeg has narrowly avoided the warnings, with lows predicted to hit -28 C this weekend.

An icy look at downtown Edmonton as an extreme cold snap continued Friday. (Manuel Carrillos Avalos/CBC/Radio-Canada)

What’s happening in Eastern Canada

A major snowstorm is set to hit parts of Ontario and Quebec late Friday, days after they were already hit with significant snowfall. For many parts of Canada, this week has been the first snowfall of the season.

A storm from Texas is blowing into Eastern Canada, bringing an expected 10 centimetres of snow to parts of Toronto, with even heavier snowfall forecast for Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City.

Workers shovel a wet mess from freezing rain on Montreal’s Plateau-Mont-Royal Wednesday. (Ivanoh Demers/CBC/Radio-Canada)

Environment Canada is warning motorists to stay off the roads if possible Friday evening through Saturday morning, with heavy winds bringing blizzard-like conditions that will reduce visibility.

Toronto’s snow is expected to change to rain by Saturday morning as temperatures rise, potentially adding to dangers on the road.

“If you don’t absolutely need to be out on the roads, you know, we definitely recommend that you do not head out,” Wagar said.

Winter comes to King Edward Ave., in Ottawa on Thursday. (CBC/Radio-Canada)

Quebec City was also put under storm surge warning Friday, with high water levels from the St. Lawrence river raising the risk of flooding in areas.

Nova Scotia saw a winter storm with heavy rain and wind close dozens of schools and cause widespread power outages Wednesday, and much of the Maritime region can expect similar weather this weekend. Environment Canada issued a high wind warning for Digby County Friday afternoon, warning of potential for more outages.

Pedestrians make their way through wind and sleet in Halifax on Wednesday. (Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press)

Northern New Brunswick can expect up to 20 centimetres of snow this weekend, while the south can expect ice pellets and rain starting Saturday into Sunday morning, as well as elevated wind and water levels.

“We do normally see these heavy winter storms and some coastal flooding will come with it. But the extent of it, how widespread it is, how intense it is, Is a bit out of the norm,” Wagar said.

A snowplow clears snow from a sidewalk in Moncton during a snowstorm on Jan. 10. (CBC/Radio-Canada)

 

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One Tech Tip: How to prepare your online accounts for when you die

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LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?

It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.

Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:

Apple

The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.

For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.

You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.

Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.

Google

Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.

When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.

You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.

There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.

Facebook and Instagram

Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.

When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.

The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.

You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.

TikTok

The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.

Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.

X

It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.

Passwords

Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?

Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.

But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.

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Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.



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Google’s partnership with AI startup Anthropic faces a UK competition investigation

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LONDON (AP) — Britain’s competition watchdog said Thursday it’s opening a formal investigation into Google’s partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.

The Competition and Markets Authority said it has “sufficient information” to launch an initial probe after it sought input earlier this year on whether the deal would stifle competition.

The CMA has until Dec. 19 to decide whether to approve the deal or escalate its investigation.

“Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world,” the company said. “Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don’t demand exclusive tech rights.”

San Francisco-based Anthropic was founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, who previously worked at ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The company has focused on increasing the safety and reliability of AI models. Google reportedly agreed last year to make a multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic, which has a popular chatbot named Claude.

Anthropic said it’s cooperating with the regulator and will provide “the complete picture about Google’s investment and our commercial collaboration.”

“We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others,” it said in a statement.

The U.K. regulator has been scrutinizing a raft of AI deals as investment money floods into the industry to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom. Last month it cleared Anthropic’s $4 billion deal with Amazon and it has also signed off on Microsoft’s deals with two other AI startups, Inflection and Mistral.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Beyoncé, whose ‘Freedom’ is Harris’ campaign anthem, is expected at Democrat’s Texas rally on Friday

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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Beyoncé is expected to appear Friday in her hometown of Houston at a rally for Vice President Kamala Harris, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Harris’ presidential campaign has taken on Beyonce’s 2016 track “Freedom” as its anthem, and the singer’s planned appearance brings a high-level of star power to what has become a key theme of the Democratic nominee’s bid: freedom.

Harris will head to the reliably Republican state just 10 days before Election Day in an effort to refocus her campaign against former President Donald Trump on reproductive care, which Democrats see as a make-or-break issue this year.

The three people were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity. The Harris campaign did not immediately comment.

Beyoncé‘s appearance was expected to draw even more attention to the event — and to Harris’ closing message.

Harris’ Houston trip is set to feature women who have been affected by Texas’ restrictive abortion laws, which took effect after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. She has campaigned in other states with restrictive abortion laws, including Georgia, among the seven most closely contested states.

Harris has centered her campaign around the idea that Trump is a threat to American freedoms, from reproductive and LGBTQ rights to the freedom to be safe from gun violence.

Beyonce gave Harris permission early in her campaign to use “Freedom,” a soulful track from her 2016 landmark album “Lemonade,” in her debut ad. Harris has used its thumping chorus as a walk-out song at rallies ever since.

Beyoncé’s alignment with Harris isn’t the first time that the Grammy winner has aligned with a Democratic politician. Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, danced as Beyoncé performed at a presidential inaugural ball in 2009.

In 2013, she sang the national anthem at Obama’s second inauguration. Three years later, she and her husband Jay-Z performed at a pre-election concert for Democrat Hillary Clinton in Cleveland.

“Look how far we’ve come from having no voice to being on the brink of history — again,” Beyoncé said at the time. “But we have to vote.”

A January poll by Ipsos for the anti-polarization nonprofit With Honor found that 64% of Democrats had a favorable view of Beyonce compared with just 32% of Republicans. Overall, Americans were more likely to have a favorable opinion than an unfavorable one, 48% to 33%.

Speculation over whether the superstar would appear at this summer’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago reached a fever pitch on the gathering’s final night, with online rumors swirling after celebrity news site TMZ posted a story that said: “Beyoncé is in Chicago, and getting ready to pop out for Kamala Harris on the final night of the Democratic convention.” The site attributed it to “multiple sources in the know,” none of them named.

About an hour after Harris ended her speech, TMZ updated its story to say, “To quote the great Beyoncé: We gotta lay our cards down, down, down … we got this one wrong.” In the end, Harris took the stage to star’s song, but that was its only appearance.

Last year, Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, attended Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour in Maryland after getting tickets from Beyonce herself. “Thanks for a fun date night, @Beyonce,” Harris wrote on Instagram.

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Long and Kinnard reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Linley Sanders in Washington contributed to this report. Kinnard can be reached at

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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