Category Archives: weather notes

30 knt. winds, driving rain and constant spray!

Posted on by
Monday, March 25, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max, 10.9 C  Min. 7.0 C  Reset 8.0 C – Rain = 2.8 mm
MARINE LIFE: 1 mature, and 2 immature Bald Eagles arrived as usual at first light but stayed only until just after 10:30 am- maybe they didn’t like the 30 knt. winds, driving rain and constant spray! The rest of the birds were not too active either and for the most part huddled down stoically, with their beaks into the wind and rain. I always feel sorry for the birds when the weather is so nasty.Only the 2 large bull Elephant Seals hauled out on the ramp today – there was a little question of who had rights to the boat ramp today when Mike went down to get the sea water sample- the large bull elephant seals were not happy to be disturbed but at least tolerated the human ‘interaction’ since it was brief ! and careful !!
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:06 PM

Hopefully the ‘spring’ is just around the corner!

Posted on by
Wednesday, March 20, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE:Max. 4.1 C  Min. – 1.9 C  Reset 0.0 C  Rain 5.6mm } } Snow 4.0cm  Total Precipitation 9.6mm
MARINE LIFE: Very little animal activity today and definitely not typical weather for the first day of spring for Race Rocks.Counted 6 gulls just below the northeast ridge, huddled against the really bitter wind. Although the temperatures don’t seem all that cold they are taken in an enclosure protected from the wind,so no wind chill is factored in to give a real feel of how cold it is for the birds, especially.The 7 Northern Sealions that started out the day hauled out on the southeast rocks soon took to the water which at about 7 degrees would be the warmer choice.No Elephant seals hauled out on the ramp today which is good as the 6-7 foot swells toss all sorts of debris including large logs as far as the boat house door. Hopefully the ‘spring’ is just around the corner!
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:20 PM

Good Morning

WEATHER: Sky Overcast  Vis. 1 Miles Snow Wind 29 North North East Gust 37 Knots Sea 5 – 6 Foot Moderate Low East Swell
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:12 AM

Wind North East 25 G 33 Knots Sea 4 -5 Foot Moderate

Posted on by
Wednesday, March 06, 2002
Good Evening 3/6/2002
TEMPERATURE: Max. 5.0C  Min -2.0C  Reset 0.0C No Rain or Snow
MARINE LIFE: 5 Bald Eagles – 3 mature- arrived first light but left the area earlier than usual as the weather deteriorated.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 12:30 Angus arrived to take Garry back to campus. With the wind and easterly swell it was another tricky manouever to ‘nudge’ into the dock so Garry could jump into the boat – timing is everything, not for the squeamish!
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:22 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Cloudy  Vis. 15 Miles  Wind North East 25 G 33 Knots  Sea 4 -5 Foot Moderate  Low Easterly Swell
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:19 AM

Close call–

Posted on by
Friday, February 22, 2002
Good Evening
TEMERATURE: Max. 9.0c >>> Min. 5.2c >>> Reset 5.2c >>> Rain 29.5mm
MARINELIFE: 3 mature and 1 immature Bald Eagles were around a good deal today. Two pairs of Canada Geese enjoyed wading in the large puddles that have formed on Great Race Island as we have experienced 71.7mm of rain in the past 48 hours. An Elephant Seal chose to lounge beside the jetty for part of the morning.
HUMAN INTERACTION: Pearson College divers were out for a drift dive on the ebb tide. A television crew from The New VI joined us as well. Rick Searle, the host of EnviroMental on the New VI, is preparing a segment about Race Rocks for the program. Watch for it coming soon on Channel 12 in Victoria.
One eco-tour boat through the MPA about 13:00.
At 14:20 a rental boat from a local marina tried to run the tide rips in the narrow gap between the South Islets at full speed. I couldn’t believe my eyes as they stopped just short of the reef. Mother Nature has ways of dealing with fools but she let them off easy today!
We had to settle for arranging a stern warning when they returned to the marina.
posted by Angus Matthews at 8:12 PM
Good Morning again. Mike and Carol have gone ashore for a week, a very rare occurance. I will be your guest host and eco-guardian.
posted by Angus Matthews at 10:19 AM

Close call with log boom

Posted on by

Saturday, February 09, 2002

Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 8.2C Min 5.7C  Reset 6.9C Rain 0.6
MARINE LIFE: 13 mature, 2 immature Bald Eagles today.The day started out quite nice but by noon the wind was up to 20knts. from the northeast with a fair swell coming into the dock area and the lone California Sea Lion that had hauled out on the end of the dock kept moving ‘inland’ to get away from the spray. He looked old and quite thin and was still there as it got dark. We now have 6 Canada Geese which are very definitely pairs. Today they spent foraging in the southwest quadrant of Gr. Race, somewhat sheltered from the wind.
HUMAN INTERACTION: Although not quite in the reserve the tug Rivtow Capt. Bob and barge Rivtow Hercules with a full load of raw logs passed very close to the Rosedale buoy heading east. Usually these tugs are much farther out to sea near the shipping lanes.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:14 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Cloudy  Vis. 15 Miles Wind North East 11 Knots  Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:29 AM

Light snow

Posted on by

 

Tuesday, January 29, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 2.5C Min. 0.0C Reset 1.1C Rain 3.0 mm — Snow 2.0 cm Total Precipitation 5.0 mm
MARINE LIFE: 14 Bald Eagles -all mature- arrived as usual early a.m. but gradually left as the weather deteriorated in the late morning.The snow showers were heavy enough at times to activate the fog horn, however the ground was too warm for the snow to accumulate.5 mature eagles returned as the weather cleared and stayed for most of the afternoon.
HUMAN INTERACTION: at 1:25 pm 1 tour boat came through the reserve.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:06 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Overcast Vis. 1 1/2 Miles – Light Snow  Wind North East 5 Knots  Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:42 AM

Eagles Fishing

Posted on by
Sunday, January 13, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 7.7C  Min. 3.9C  Reset 5.7C Rain 0.6 mm
MARINE LIFE: With calm seas the tidelines were very active with feeding birds.We saw a lot of fish taken by the 11( 5 mature ) Bald Eagles.Most of them chose to eat their catch sitting on the ridge of the Southeast Rocks. There was one eagle -immature- with very pale, buff mottled colouring all over except for dark brown tail and head.This colouring is probably not that rare,we have just never seen it before and it stood out so much amongst the rest of the immatures.The Harbour seals seem to favour the southeast rocks for haul out the past few days, counted 167 just before dark.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 3 Pleasure craft through the M.P.A. today.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:16 PM

Good Morning

WEATHER: Sky Cloudy  Vis. 15 Miles  Wind North West 2 Knots  Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:01 AM
Saturday, January 12, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 9.1C  Min. 6.7C  Reset 7.0C  Rain 13.8 mm
WEATHER: Sky Cloudy  Vis 6 – 10 Miles in Rain Showers + Fog  Wind has been West 35 G 45 Knots all day Sea 7 Foot Rough with Moderate Swells
MARINE LIFE: 2 mature Bald Eagles today but they spent less than an hour in the area before flying over towards Bentinck Island.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:08 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Overcast  Vis. 6 Miles Fog + Rain Showers  Wind South West 35 Gust 47 Knots Sea 6 Foot Moderate With Low – Mod. West Swell
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:19 AM

23 Bald Eagles

Posted on by
Sunday, January 06, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 9.9C  Min. 7.9C  Reset 9.7C  Rain 10.2 mm
MARINE LIFE: Another good day for watching eagles, 23 altogether ( 5 mature ). They were spread out along the ridges of West Race, North Rocks. and The Southeast Rocks. At 9:15 one mature eagle caught a juvenile gull just over the northwest ridge above the boat house,unfortunately the gull which seemed lifeless dropped and landed in a pile of drift wood washing against the shore on the west side of the boat dock. A group of gulls hurried to the area but with the breaking waves and some fair sized logs crashing about, the gulls were unable to get at the dead bird.The weather started to worsen with winds picking up to 22-27knts. from the northeast, and by 12:50 in moderate rain showers all but 2 eagles left the area.The 2 remaining (immatures) left just before 13:30
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:10 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Overcast �� Vis. 15 Miles �� Wind North East 15 Knots �� Sea 1 Foot Chop Low East Swell
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:31 AM

Clear view of Mt. Baker

Posted on by
Wednesday, December 26, 2001
TEMPERATURE:Max 6.9 —Min 3.7 c — Reset 5.0
MARINE LIFE: Today we enjoyed the sunshine, the view of Mt. Baker was outstanding. We had 3 Bald Eagles all immatures, spending about two hours sitting on the south east rocks, no prey taken. Just after 11am, 3 Orcas came into the area from the south west, they traveled through the kelp to the south and east of Gr. Race but stayed no longer than 30 minutes. A large bull Elephant Seal is hauled out on the closest of the south east rocks, tucked in just below the ridge, somewhat protected from the very chilly north east wind.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 3:18 AM

Wind!

Posted on by
Thursday, December 06, 2001
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max 8.8C — Min 4.5C — Reset 7.7C Rain 5.0 mm — Windy day
WEATHER: A great weather day! Very noisy with the howling and whistling 35-46knt. winds out of the west.At times the rain, moderate and horizontal, reduced visibilty to 1/2 mile as some of you may have noticed on cameras #1 and #3. The constant pounding of the waves,especially during high tide causes the house to ‘rumble’ not unlike small earthquakes.
MARINE LIFE: The dead mammal is a very small Harbour Seal, looked to be about 8 or 9 kilos and 70cms. There are no external wounds, however the seal seems under sized with not much body fat, and for some reason failed to thrive.It would appear that it has been dead for 2 or 3 days and came ashore on a flooding tide in a knot of kelp and driftwood.
Many of the sea lions rafted about in the relative calm sea in the lee of Gr. Race while 40-50 Harbour Seals spent several hours ‘surfing’ in the 3-4metre breakers between the Southeast Rocks and Gr. Race
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:08 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Overcast — Vis. 15 Miles — Light Rain Shower — Wind South West 23 Knots — Sea 4 Foot Moderate
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:19 AM