Category Archives: weather notes

Decade Comparisons:Sea Surface Temperature at Race Rocks-

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Link to Race Rocks Mean Monthly Sea Temperature 1921-present,

Monthly temperature averages in degrees Celsius for Race Rocks
1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 Average Month
Jan 6.4 7.1 7.1 6.6 7.8 7.6 6.9 7.1 6.5 7.0 Jan
Feb 7.1 6.1 6.4 7.3 6.9 8 7.4 7.3 6.3 6.6 6.9 Feb
Mar 7.3 6.6 6.7 7.7 7.3 8.6 7.8 7.8 7.1 7.1 7.4 Mar
Apr 7.7 7.5 7.6 7.9 8 9.2 8 8.6 7.8 8.2 8.1 Apr
May 8.5 8.3 8.6 9 9.2 10.1 8.8 9.7 9 9.3 9.1 May
June 9.5 9.5 9.3 9.8 10.1 10.7 9.8 10.2 9.8 10 9.9 June
Jul 10.3 10.5 10.3 10.5 11.1 11.1 10.5 10.8 10.8 10.6 10.7 Jul
Aug 10.5 10.3 10.5 10.3 10.8 10.9 10.9 10.9 10.8 10.8 10.7 Aug
Sept 10.3 10.2 10.6 10.2 10.2 10.5 10.3 10.3 10.7 10.6 10.4 Sept
Oct 9.8 9.3 9.6 9.2 9.2 9.8 9.7 9.2 9.8 9.4 9.5 Oct
Nov 9.1 8.4 8.7 8.8 8.3 9.1 8.6 8.6 8.8 8.6 8.7 Nov
Dec 8.2 7.1 7.9 7.3 8.2 8.5 7.6 7.9 7.8 8 7.9 Dec
8.8 Decade
average
Average
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Jan 8.2 8.2 7.7 8.7 8 7.5 7.9 8.1 8.8 7.8 8.1 Jan
Feb 8.6 7.8 7.9 9.2 7.8 7.7 7.7 7.9 8.5 7.9 8.1 Feb
Mar 8.8 8.4 8.1 9.7 8.1 8.1 8.1 7.7 8.7 8.3 8.4 Feb
Apr 9.2 9.2 9 9.9 8.9 9.1 8.7 8.7 9.2 9.1 9.1 Apr
May 10.2 10 10.3 10.4 9.5 10 9.7 9.4 9.9 10.4 10.0 May
June 11.2 10.4 10.9 11.4 10.4 11.1 10.6 10.5 10.9 11 10.8 June
Jul 11.8 11.5 11.7 11.7 11.1 11.3 11.3 11.2 11.3 11.8 11.5 Jul
Aug 11.5 11.5 12.2 12.3 11.5 11.7 11.4 11.7 11.4 11.9 11.7 Aug
Sept 11.3 10.5 11.6 12.1 11.9 11.4 11.4 11.3 11.4 11.2 11.4 Sept
Oct 10.2 9.9 11.3 10.7 10.1 10.3 10.2 10 10.9 10.6 10.4 Oct
Nov 9.4 8.7 9.9 9.8 9 9 9.2 9 9 9.4 9.2 Nov
Dec 8.9 7.6 9.3 9 8.5 8 8.3 8.8 8.5 8.6 8.6 Dec
9.8 Decade
Average
This analysis has been done by Garry Fletcher using the monthly averages of the daily temperatures.
See this file for the complete set of monthly data1921 to present
The following is a comparison between 1951-1960 and 2001-2010

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
1951 7.5 6.9 6.7 8.1 9.2 10.2 10.4 11.1 10.9 9.5 8.5 7.7
1952 6.9 7.1 7.6 8.2 9 9.6 10.4 10.5 10.2 9.8 8.6 7.9
1953 7.8 7.9 7.6 8.1 9.3 9.8 10.6 11 10.6 9.9 9.3 8.5
1954 7.1 7.3 7.5 7.9 8.7 9.3 9.9 10 10 9.4 9.1 8.4
1955 7.5 7.1 6.7 7.5 8.4 9.3 9.8 10.2 10 8.9 7.5 6.6
1956 6.7 6.4 6.3 7.6 8.7 9.6 10.2 10.4 10.1 9.2 8.1 7.1
1957 6.3 6.2 7.2 8.1 9.3 10 10.3 10.5 10.5 9.8 8.8 8.3
1958 8 8.3 8.6 9.3 10.3 10.7 11.5 11.5 11 9.9 8.7 8.1
1959 7.6 7.4 7.9 9.1 9.7 10.4 11.3 11 10.4 9.7 8.3 7.8
1960 7.1 7.5 7.5 8.6 9.6 10.3 11.4 10.8 10.1 9.5 8.6 7.9
Mean 7.25 7.21 7.36 8.25 9.22 9.92 10.58 10.7 10.38 9.56 8.55 7.83

2001 7.9 7.7 8.1 8.7 9.7 10.6 11.3 11.4 11.4 10.2 9.2 8.3
2002 8.1 7.9 7.7 8.7 9.4 10.5 11.2 11.7 11.3 10 9 8.8
2003 8.8 8.5 8.7 9.2 9.9 10.9 11.3 11.4 11.4 10.9 9 8.5
2004 7.8 7.9 8.3 9.1 10.4 11 11.8 11.9 11.2 10.6 9.4 8.6
2005 7.7 8 8.8 9.4 10.7 11.2 11.6 12.1 11.5 10.4 9.5 8.3
2006 8.61 8.49 8.41 8.75 10.08 10.86 11.66 12.09 11.49 10.55 9.29 8.5
2007 7.8 7.9 7.9 9 10 10.2 11.2 11.6 11 10 9 8
2008 7.46 7.33 7.68 8.06 9.36 9.77 10.84 11.3 11.16 10.14 9.39 7.87
2009 7.29 7.2 7.5 8.4 9.54 10.4 11.4 11.74 11.8 10.5 9 7
2010 8.11 8.68 9.12 8.96 9.54 10.36 11.16 11.93 11.08 10.37 8.98 8.5
Mean 7.95 7.96 8.22 8.82 9.862 10.58 11.34 11.71 11.33 10.36 9.17 8.24

Monthly Means
2001-2010 1951-1960
Jan 7.96 7.25
Feb 7.96 7.21
Mar 8.22 7.36
Apr 8.83 8.25
May 9.86 9.22
June 10.58 9.92
july 11.34 10.58
Aug 11.71 10.7
Sept 11.33 10.38
Oct 10.36 9.56
Nov 9.17 8.55
Dec 8.24 7.83

See also https://www.env.gov.bc.ca/soe/indicators/climate-change/sea-surface-temperature.html

Unsafe Snorkeling, Fall Changes, Census

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Weather: 

  • Visibility 15+ NE
  • Sky overcast, cloudy
  • Wind 15-25 kn N
  • Water moderate waves, white caps.

Visitors/Boats: 

  • Around 15 whale watching boats yesterday
  • Corey, Guy, and a student with their visiting grandparents visited yesterday, and delivered water- the desalinator is on the horizon!
  • We are ending our term on Race Rocks tomorrow, so Greg and Guy will come for a debrief before the next eco-guardian takes over.

Yesterday we saw a pleasure craft enter the reserve and drop snorkelers into the water less than 100 m from our jetty, within 5 m of shore and the hauled out sea lions. The animals were distressed and swam around the snorkelers barking. The current was flooding very quickly (5 knots), which creates dangerous water currents, eddies, and upwellings. We as well as Corey in Second Nature motioned for the boat to move away, but they simply gathered the snorkelers and moved around the corner where they presumably thought we would not see them. An eco-tourism vessel in the reserve also noticed them and contacted us to let us know, out of concern for their safety given the animals present and the currents at the time.

In the past scuba divers and vessels have found themselves capsized or pulled away from their dive site and rescued by helicopter, and in 2015 a diver went missing and was found deceased days after they disappeared by a fisherman after rescue crews were not able to find them. We were especially concerned for this group’s safety due to lack of float marking their position and the frequent boating traffic through the reserve. In the past, seal pups have been decapitated by vessels passing through too quickly and unable to see them. If these snorkelers had been pulled away by the currents, there would have been a high chance of being struck by a vessel unable to see them in the rough water.

Ecological: 

  • The sea lions population continues to grow! We are having to repair the fences sometimes twice per day. It seems like a more powerful electric fence energizer could be a good idea.
  • We spotted a little Greylag goose among the Canadian geese yesterday.
  • The sea lion that we spotted on Sept. 12th with an apparent propeller wound to his head is still here. He stays near the jetty and seems to have some behavioural anomalies, presumably due to the head injury. He is not afraid of us like the others, and does not move away into the water with the others when we clear the jetty. We haven’t had any problems but are weary that his behaviour could be unpredictable. Marty (the vet that came to aid in rescuing the entangled sea lion) mentioned that sometimes when this happens a shard of their skull can splinter and cause a brain infection. We hope this little guy is on the mend.
  • There have been many Canadian Geese passing through this week; A few days ago we counted over 20. The geese are not native to the island, but according to Gary Fletcher they arrived somewhere in the 80’s as the population of geese on Vancouver Island were introduced/grew. Addling the eggs began somewhere in the late 90’s. Unfortunately, this year two nests survived and hatched goslings, meaning that 20 geese left the island after 8 nested here in the spring.

Census: 

  • 500 Sea lions
  • 15 harbour seals
  • <20 seagulls
  • Approx. 20 cormorants
  • 3 short billed dowitchers
  • 1 Greylag goose
  • 1 sanderling
  • 1 Savannah sparrow
  • 20-23 Canada geese

Island Invaders (Invasive Thistle Removal)

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Invasive Species: Canada Thistle Removal 

We removed 6 large garbage bags full of invasive “Canada” thistles over the past few days. Considered a “noxious weed” under the BC Weed control act, these perennial (grow back every year) weeds can reproduce through seed and root regeneration. Thought to have been introduced to North America via contaminated crop seed in the 1700’s, this plant is actually native to southeast Europe and Asia. Presumably they were introduced to Race Rocks by a visitor on clothing or equipment, or perhaps by an animal.

They can be a bit laborious to remove, due to their tap root and ability to regenerate through “cloning” (growing back if you leave the root in the ground). Incredibly, the seeds can remain viable for 3-6 years when buried at typical depth, and some up to 21 years (yikes!). Each plant produces an average of 1500 seeds, but can sometimes exceed 5000.

Because of this, we collected them into garbage bags to remove from the island instead of composting them where they would have the opportunity to reproduce. Unfortunately it appeared that these aggressively persistent weeds were whipper snipped in past seasons, allowing the seeds to disperse and roots to regenerate. Hopefully with some attentiveness, they can be eradicated from Race Rocks in the next few years. More information on other introduced plants available in this post from Garry Fletcher, 2006.

Weather: 

  • Sky partly cloudy, some sunshine
  • Visibility 15+ miles (some fog last night)
  • Wind 20-30 knots W
  • Water choppy, whitecaps

Visitors: 

  • Today Laura (Pearson’s marine science teacher), and her class came for a bit for their first trip to Race Rocks! Two more classes will visit in the next couple of days.
  • Less frequent eco-tourism traffic now that the summer tourism has slowed down. They have been getting quite close to the sea lions though, often causing them to climb over each other to get further away from the vessels. Since it has been overcast, we’ve been seeing the use of flash photography much more, which seems to audibly cause quite a stir.

Ecological: 

  • There have been some birds passing through that we don’t often see: western sandpiper, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, and juvenile sandpiper (or possibly sanderling- we have a hard time with bird ID!) Also, we think we spotted a yellow warbler a while back, but it was too speedy for us to snap a photo.
  • The sea lions have continued to haul out- notably, there are typically over 100 animals on the jetty alone.

The Flag is Back

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Weather: 

  • Sky overcast, some clear patches (not much solar power generated today)
  • Visibility 15+ miles, no fog
  • Wind 10-20 knots W
  • Water calm. Some interesting standing wave patterns lately.

Boats/Visitors: 

  • On Thursday Greg came in the afternoon to top up our water supply. Pearson alum Norbert (currently alum in residence) also came along for the ride to check out our solar panels and provide suggestions for future improvements. Pearson maintenance volunteer Jimmy also stopped in for the night to visit race rocks before he goes home to Mexico. Safe travels!
  • We had many hands on deck, so we were able to successfully repair and raise the flagpole.
  • Yesterday Greg visited with a group of college guests who toured the island.

Ecological: 

  • The sea lions have started to haul out on the N + S/SW sides of Great Race Rock.
  • The oyster catcher chicks have grown to be nearly as big as their parents and are flying all over!
  • The seagull chicks are getting bigger and when rival adults attack they now fight back. On Thursday we spotted a chick with one eye pecked out and were concerned that it would not survive. Fortunately, when we checked later it was doing well.
  • There have been large numbers of black turnstones present this past week, 30+ at once

 

 

 

The Sea Lions Are Coming

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Weather:

  • Sky blue, partly cloudy
  • Visibility 13+ miles
  • Wind 10-20 knots SW
  • Water calm

Visitors/Boats: 

  • Not much boat traffic these past few days. It has been quite foggy and windy (40+ knots of wind)
  • Today Greg is bringing some water for the main tank. He is also bringing a volunteer from the college who will stay overnight.
  • Tomorrow morning we will have a group tour the island

Maintenance:

  • Yesterday Alex Fletcher came to take measurements from the batteries that supply the entire island. We have been having some problems with the technology but the batteries are looking good and healthy.
  • Our Canadian flag is still down, as the flag pole was too heavy for us to lower alone. We will try to enlist the help of Greg and the volunteer today and get things back in order!

Ecological: 

  • The sea lions are starting to haul out onto Great Race Rock more and more. We will need to put up the electric fence soon to prevent them from coming right up to our backdoor as their local population increases. We are waiting for the elephant seals to leave, as the fence would prevent them from moving freely onto the jetty.
  • There are now two younger elephant seals who arrived a couple of days ago. One of them went back to a favourite spot of one of this years spring pups, so we wonder if it is the same one.

Sunny Skies, Census

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Weather: 

  • Blue skies, no clouds
  • Visibility 15+ miles
  • Wind 10-20 knots W
  • Water calm

Boats/Visitors: 

  • Greg came by yesterday with some fresh water for our main tank.
  • Quite a few tour vessels
  • Greg and Pearson Alumni are touring the reserve over the next few days as part of their reunion, but they will not be coming on land.

Ecological: 

  • There are quite a few more sea lions this week than last. They have started to haul out on Great Race Rock in addition to West and Middle Rock.

Census:

  • 51 sea lions
  • 40 seals (including 3-5 pups)
  • 3 Cormorants
  • 2 families of geese (from the spring nesting season)
  • 2 elephant seals (moulting males)
  • 300 + seagulls

A Quiet Week

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Weather: 

  • Sky blue, a few clouds
  • Visibility 15+ miles (less fog lately)
  • Wind 20-30 knots W
  • Water choppy, waves to .5 m, whitecaps

Boats/Visitors:

  • No visitors to the island since Greg delivered water on Monday. We were happy to have a few guests of the college also stop in for a visit at the same time.
  • Lately there have been quite a few eco-tourism vessels (20+ each day). The noise from the vessels is continuous and can be felt as a low vibration even inside the house. We have seen the odd private pleasure craft as well but they are typically smaller and move more slowly.

Ecological: 

  • The seagulls are growing more and more! The chicks have started to flap their wings into the wind, and wading into the water near the jetty. The adults seem to be attacking the young less frequently as they get bigger, but we still spot the odd deceased chick. Today we saw an adult gull swallow an unlucky chick whole.
  • The oyster catcher chicks have begun flying! They are able to cross the short distance between the jetty and the nearby rocks.
  • There are only two moulting male elephant seals on the island now. They look like they will likely leave soon, as their peeling of skin and fur is nearly done.
  • Earlier this week we saw orcas in the reserve, making twice in the past week and a half.
  • There have been a handful of seal pups and their moms resting in the shallower intertidal on the SE side of the island (also many seals on rosedale rock)
  • There has been a slow increase in sea lions hauling out onto west and middle rock. They occasionally stop on the jetty at a higher tide, or the rocks nearby.

 

Disappointing Activity

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Ecological:

Today we saw a group of orcas (4-6) within the ecological reserve, and noted that there was a horde of whale watching/ecotourism boats that followed. Shortly after the pod entered the reserve, we observed 12-15 boats convening in the area, forming a wall of motorized vessels on the border of the reserve. A diving boat was also present in the reserve, and had approximately 5 divers in the water at the same time.

While the ecotourism boats may have maintained an “appropriate” distance, it was undeniable that their approach from one direction as a large group negatively affected the wildlife. The diving boat had divers in the water, which inevitably means it is difficult to move away.

After only a few minutes of the boats approaching the orcas departed, heading away from the approaching boats, which gave chase.

Weather:

  • Wind: 10-15kn
  • Sky: Partially overcast
  • Visibility: 10mi
  • Water: Small waves not in excess of 0.5m

Boats/Visitors:

We have had no visitors over the last while, short of Greg delivering water yesterday.

Big Creatures and Big Winds

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Weather: 

  • Visibility 14 miles
  • Partly cloudy, sunny
  • Wind 25-35 knots (gale warning in effect)
  • White caps and spray. Waves up to 4 m.

Visitors/Boats: 

  • The college boats are still in for maintenance, so we have not had any visitors. We are hoping to go to the main island soon but winds were much too strong and unpredictable today.
  • The past couple of days we have seen a handful of eco-tourism vessels and pleasure craft. Some vessels have approached within 20 m of our jetty and surrounding Great Race Rock. The elephant seals have been scooting up the jetty to get away and the few sea lions remaining appear disturbed.

Ecological: 

  • We were sad to find the missing gosling deceased. It seems that due to its injured foot it was easy prey for the bald eagles that have been swooping by lately.
  • We are now in the company of 4 very large male elephant seals who have stopped here to moult. They are enjoying taking regular baths in the shallow and protected jetty waters.
  • The occasional sea lion has stopped by and hauled out for a rest, but otherwise they have all moved on.
  • The seagulls are becoming more and more aggressive. We are anticipating the need to wear protective equipment sometime in the coming week!

Maintenance/Other:

  • We are still waiting for the delayed desalinator, so we are conserving water as much as we can in the meantime, as it is not possible for more to be delivered without the use of the college vessels.
  • We have been collecting shingles as the high winds are tearing them off of the sheds (new metal roofing is expected sometime soon), and often find fishing lures, bits of rope, and other litter wedged into the rocky intertidal.
  • The beautiful sunny days lately have meant that we have been able to operate entirely on solar power most days. We’ve been having some troubles with the battery charge readings but otherwise the system is working without a hitch!

A Quiet Week

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Weather: 

  • 15 miles visibility
  • Skies clear with some clouds
  • 40+ kn wind
  • Rolling waves up to 1/2 m breaking into whitecaps

Boats/Visitors: 

The boats at Pearson are in for annual maintenance so we have not had any college visitors. The wind conditions have limited all boat traffic.

Ecological:

There are have been no sea lions over the past few days. The gosling that appeared to be injured has not been spotted in a while. The large male elephant seals are clearly moulting now and have been fighting over the best sleeping spots. The seagulls have become more aggressive and will now fly towards us even if we keep a distance from their eggs.

There has been DND blasting nearby almost every day lately. The birds take flight and the mammals are visibly disturbed.

Census: 

  • 30 harbour seals
  • 5 elephant seals, all moulting. 4 male 1 female
  • Roughly 200 seagulls
  • Two families of geese, minus one missing gosling
  • Two barn swallows nesting in our rafters