Category Archives: weather notes

Census

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Ecological 

  • Wind NE 15-20 increasing to 25 knots, clear sky, temperature low.
  • Census. Numbers are low or zero for some species likely due to persistent cold temperature and wind which causes them to seek more shelter.  Notable there is a relatively high count of Califiornia sealions, most of which were sheltered on the leeward, south side of Great Race:
    • California sealions: 102
    • Northern sealions: 72
    • Elephants seals: 2M 1F
    • Harbour seals: 53
    • Bald Eagles: 2A 1J
    • Cormorants: 27
    • Gulls: 40
    • Harlequin ducks: 4

Vessels

  • 2 ecotour

Maintenance

  • Reboot of overloaded UPS in tower, communications restored.
  • Wood clearing, cutting and chopping
  • checking for potential freeze ups due to cold temperature

Never Ending North East

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Ecological

  • Wind NE 10-20 knots all day and all night and forecast to continue…barometer is trending upwards.  Clear sky most of the day. Temperature has been getting down to zero at night and sea water temp is at its lowest as of recently, 8.5 C.

Vessels

  • 3 eco tour boats in the reserve.  One of them passed through the channel between the inner South Island and Great Race while sealions were on the south island and southern shore of Great Race. The passage itself is less than 100 meters wide so it is impossible to go through there while sealions present without being less than 100 meters from them.  Additionally there was a second tour boat from the same company on the other side of the South island so the sealions were surrounded, this can increase likelihood of a disturbance.  A few sealions did exit into the water as the boats passed by.  UPDATE Jan 2: We received an email on Dec 31 from the captain of the boat involved in this incident.  He apologized for his mistake going through this passage and creating a sealion disturbance.  The other tour operator radioed him to tell him that passage in this channel is not allowed.   He had not been aware of it.  He said he would not do it again and would help spread the word.  We appreciate him getting in touch with us and are thankful for his accountability and commitment to preventing this kind of incident from occurring again.   

Maintenance

  • Tracked cable from offline charge controller to identify which row of panels it is connected to, second row from South side of roof.
  • fixed saw horses which were wobbly
  • scrapped and touch-up-painted diesel barrel with anti-rust paint
  • Cleared wood from ramp, ran derrick to haul in 2 decent logs.
  • Microwave connection went offline in the evening (internet and phone), will deal with it in the morning.

rain water tank

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Ecological 

  • wind NE 10-15 knots increasing to 20 later in the day
  • 3 elephant seals remain on main island, both males and the moulting female.

Vessels

  • 2 pleasure craft
  • 3 eco-tour including a US vessel From San Juan Island, Washington.  One eco tour vessel appeared to be within 100 meters of sealions hauled out on the South Islands.DSC_9474

Maintenance

  • talked we Chris re Race Rocks maintenance issues
  • worked on re-installing rainwater storage tank.  Installed two new cleanout caps on downspouts and added lanyards so that they can be opened but not removed. Added a 1 1/2 ” pvc ball valve at base of tank for a cleanout so that it is easier to cleanout the tank in place without having to cut pipes.
  • Removed electric fence insulators from jetty to avoid snagging on boat lines and damage from storms.

NE wind settles in

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Ecological

  • Wind N 5-10 knots backing to NE.  Atmospheric pressure rising slowly.  With the N-NE Wind comes colder temperatures, more driftwood, and more swell on the boat landing. Forecast is for it to persist throughout the week.

Vessels

  • I went off island in the morning and returned just before sunset.
  • I could see one big eco-tour boat leaving from Race Rocks on my way back out.

Maintenance

  • I picked up 2 new boat rollers for the dolly at Trotac, one of the forward rollers had fallen apart and another was starting to fail.
  • Picked up 2 threaded cleanout caps for 3″ pvc for the cleanouts on the downspouts to rainwater tank, one had gone missing.
  • Installed 2 new rollers on dolly.
  • Reviewed Generator/battery logs for past year.
  • I have been running a watt meter on the composting toilet for the past week to get an idea of energy consumption. In one week it used 23 KWH of energy, roughly 3KWH per day, to heat and ventilate the toilet.  For comparison the fridge here uses about 1 KWH per day.  So it is roughly equivalent to running 3 fridges, 24 hours a day.

Storms and calms Dec 21-27

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Ecological

  • Dec 21. Wind SE up 35-40 knots in the morning.  This combined with a higher than normal high tide. Barometer dipped below 990.
  • Dec 21. Nursing Northern sea lion seen on west side of Great Race, first time I have seen this here and apparently only the second time we have gotten photographs of this here.  Solo humpback west of race rocks. Barometer dipped below 990.
  • Dec 22. Wind shifted to West and increased overnight, by morning it was 5-10 knots W but there were still heavy swells coming in from the straight. Barometer dipped below 990 again today. At high tide the large sets of waves were breaking over the jetty and spray from waves was reaching above the helicopter pad.  Sealions were surfing reef break off South side of Great Race.  2 branded sealions: 409Y and 315Y (photo) observed.
  • Dec 23. Strong westerly overnight again and high tides. Wind picked up to 30 knots SW in the evening.
  • Dec 23.  A second female elephant seal came onto the island bringing total to 4 on Great Race, she is smaller than the other one and going through catastrophic molt.
  • Dec 24. Relatively calm day, partly clear, wind NE 5-10 knots. Atmospheric pressure on the rise.
  • Dec 25. Relatively calm day, partly clear, easterly picked up later in the day.  Over past few days there have been more sea-lions on Great Race than I can recall from previous years at this time.
  • Dec 26. wind NE 10-15 knots increasing to 25 N in the evening.  Atmospheric pressure reached 1030 early in the day before starting to descend.  Chuckles (smaller male e-seal, name short for Chunk-Holes in reference to the many tooth marks across his back caused by Chunk) sustained more wounds overnight from Chunk, he was hiding up at the base of the tower in the morning.
  • Dec 27. N wind over 20 knots and rain, pressure falling.  River otter around derrick deck.  Had to cancel transport for Christmas bird count  at RR due to weather. Chuckles still at base of tower, I dont think he has gone off island for about a week, at least its raining now so he will get a rinse.

Marine Vessels

  • Dec 22. 2 Eco tour
  • Dec 24. I went off island in the morning and returned just after noon.  2 ecotour vessels in afternoon.
  • Dec 25. I went off island mid morning and returned mid afternoon.  1 ecotour in afternoon.
  • Dec 26. 1 eco tour.

Maintenance

  • Dec 21. Got prices on stove parts.  Lots of wood to clean up on boat ramp.
  • Dec 22. Stormy most of the day.  Checked water levels in batteries. Cut and chopped fire wood.
  • Dec 23. Stormy day. Lots of wood to clear of ramp. Sent stove parts price list to Chris for approval.  Sent photos of chimney in student house attic to Jeff.  Made parts list for town run.
  • Dec 24. Picked up plumbing parts (at Andrew Sherret) for rainwater tank and leaky water line in basement and bar oil for chainsaw (Slegg). Picked up pressure washer from shorefront. Pressure washed rain water tank and put tank back in place.  Brought in jerry cans for gas but marina was closed in the afternoon.
  • Dec 25. Lots of wood to clear off ramp.  Cut logs and ran derrick to haul a couple.
  • Dec 26. Lots of wood to clear off ramp. Transferred one barrel of diesel to tidy tank and filled day tank. Filled jerry can for derrick.  Topped up derrick engine fuel and oil (low and needs a change). Derrick battery was too low to turn over engine so plugged in trickle charger for 2 hours after which it started up.  Pulled several logs onto deck.  Got electric chainsaw sharpener running off a spare boat battery, sharpened chainsaw.  Cut firewood. Re-stocked firewood in main house in advance of cold and wet weather coming. Missing cap for downspout clean-out to rain water tank.
  • Dec 27. Cleared, cut and chopped wood.

Strong winds and gusts of up to 114km/hour

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Ecological Happenings

  • Winds were at high speed since 6am this morning. Storms have been rolling through the reserve and conditions are rough. Gusts at 62kts and on average wind speed has been around 45kts. At 20:30 the reserve is still experiencing winds of >40kts.
  • Dunlins back in the reserve today
  • Canada Geese flew back to land
  • Sea lions spent most of the day taking shelter in the sea!

The island lost wi fi and telephone connection for the afternoon. Not much on other fronts today given the conditions.

Gust, Swell and Rain

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Ecological Happenings

  • Another wild weather day as RR. Gusts throughout the morning and afternoon, with showers and just moments of sunshine. Wind/gust warnings are still in effect until midnight.
  • Humpback whale spotted feeding towards Port Angeles.
  • Fresh propeller cuts spotted on a Sea Lion.
  • Animals continue to shift around the island and surrounding rocks, adjusting to the weather and moving away from the swell.
  • Number of geese on the island increased significantly from 13 to at least 48 today.
  • A necklaced Sea Lion spotted today near the dock.

Marine Vessels

  • Three tour boats
  • Two pleasure vessels

Maintenance

  • Camera 1 & 5 remote controls via RR website are not functioning – this is currently being troubleshooted.
  • High pressure hose requires a new pump. Attempts at rebuilding it have not been successful.
  • Electric fence repair attempts continue…..

Other

  • No visitors today.

 

 

Gusty Halloween

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Ecological Happenings

  • Four whales (likely Humpback) sighted in the RR reserve today!
  • Very rough conditions, with rains and gusts of up to 36kts. Wind and gale warnings have been in effect.
  • Sea Lions have been shuffling around the island (and moving further up the island), avoiding the white wash.
  • Second dead gull found in the week
  • Birds bathing in the water puddles from the rain

Marine Vessels

Only one tour boat seen today.

Other

  • End of month reporting in progress
  • No visitors

Rough Conditions

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Ecological Happenings

  • Rough conditions with winds of up to 39 kts
  • Sea Lions have left the rocks to the East of the dock, and moved to the west
  • Elephant Seals have moved far up the island close to houses and main access paths
  • Two Elephant Seals are seen battling/courting continuously

Boat Activity

Given the conditions – not many vessels were seen today, aside from 2 tour boats.

Other

  • End of month reporting is being completed
  • No visitors today
  • Thorough house clean
  • Good responses received from tour companies re the friendly reminder on the speed limit within the reserve

Strong Winds

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Ecological Happenings

  • One whale (possibly humpback) spotted today, close to the reserve
  • Active salmon feeding (birds and Sea Lions)

Marine Vessels

  • Four tour boats today. We encourage boats to maintain a speed of 7kts max when within the reserve. Take the time to travel slowly out of the reserve when heading back to Victoria, and watch for wildlife!
  • Three pleasure vessels

Other

  • Four students made a brief visit to the reserve today
  • Strong winds of up to 36 kts today