Tag Archives: Strong wind

WIND!! Gusts up to 93 km/hour

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Morning rainbows

Today was all about the weather. At 6:30 a.m. the wind speed was 0. I was surprised as the reports warned of high winds. It had rained in the night so I decided to wash the solar panels. By the time I finished the wind had arrived. It didn’t let up all day. North east to Northwest to Westerly probably averaged 30 km/hour but gusts constantly above 60 km. I read on the news that Race Rocks recorded the highest winds on southern Vancouver Island at 93 km/hour. The sky was mostly clear. Constant rainbows for 2 hours in the morning.

Visitors: none

Maintenance: solar panels cleaned, too windy for outdoor work

Energy: enough sun to charge batteries

Observations: I was hoping for this wind to blow a new bird to Race Rocks  but not yet. I did see a couple of swallow like birds. They were moving too quickly to identify.

Before the wind

Heavy Wind and Rain

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Weather Today: 

  • Sky partially overcast
  • Heavy rain intermittently
  • Wind 30-53 knots NW
  • Visibility 5-10 nm
  • Swells up to 4-5m

Visitors/Traffic: Very few vessels on the water today with the conditions. We spotted a fishing boat passing by near Bentinck island and took a picture of waves breaking over its bow.

Fishing vessel breaking through waves.

Ecological: 

  • The animals seem to be taking shelter from the weather and moving around a little less than usual. The sea lions are staying hauled out in big ‘cuddle puddles’, the geese and seagulls have been looking for places to sit out of the wind.
  • The younger seagulls especially have been looking a little tired, it seems like something about their feathers means they don’t repel water as well as the mature birds – they look waterlogged!

Stormy Sunday

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Wind: 3-52 knots swinging around from SW yesterday in every direction to NW this evening
Sea State: up to 4 m waves
Visibility: 5-15 NM
Sky: overcast with rain and some sunny patches
Temperature: 5-8 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 413.65 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

It has continued be very windy over the past two days, whipping up big waves from the west. Today, the wind reached a top speed of 54 knots or 100 km/h, which on the Beaufort Wind Scale is force 10, corresponding to a storm. The two higher forces on the scale are 11 (56-62 knots violent storm) and 12 (64-71 knots hurricane). See the photos and videos below for some windy and wavy views.

The wind cleared off the South Seal Rocks of its usual inhabitants of steller sea lions. They were floating in sea lion rafts and surfing the waves for most of the day. When the wind died down a bit in the late afternoon, I walked in the intertidal zone which at low tide connects the main island with the closest of the South Seal Rocks. I hadn’t been able to walk around there in the past two weeks I have been here, due to the hauled out sea lions. It was great to see the main island from the perspective of a sea lion. On my walk around, I found some intertidal trash, some of which has been there for a while. See the photos below for some of my finds.

On Monday, there is a planned visit from some electricians and technicians to do some work on the desalinator and energy system. These will be the first visitors in a week and a half. If all goes according to plan, the desalinator will be operational by early afternoon and pumping water into the tank.

During my time here in the past two weeks, I have used 800 L of water, according to the gauge on the water tank as well as the three consumed drinking water jugs. While I’m conscious of my water use, I still do all the normal tasks like cooking, drinking lots of tea, washing dishes, showering and doing laundry. As a comparison, the 2018 average day per capita water use in Vancouver, BC was 444 L. I’m doing all right!

Video: A panoramic view of the whole island and waves as seen from helicopter pad. The sound is quite loud due to the strong wind.

Video: Watching hail on the window from the comfort of inside the house, while the elephant seal neighbours brave the elements outside. It hailed three times today.

Blowing a Hooley

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Wind: Yesterday 5-35 knots N to W; Today 25-35 knots W with gust of 44 knots
Sea State: up to 2.5 m waves
Visibility: 5-10 NM
Sky: overcast with clear patches today
Temperature: 7-12 C
Atmospheric CO2: 413.20 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

The forecasted gale warning materialized right on time on Tuesday evening. Overnight and throughout today, the westerly winds were between 25 to 35 knots with gusts as strong as 44 knots. There are lots of whistles and creaks in the 1960’s house. The storm also showed a few leaks in the various outbuildings. The strong winds brought clear skies and slightly warmer temperatures. For most of the day, rainbows were visible to the north, between Rocky Point and Victoria.

Yesterday, even though it was stormy, several hours were spent working outside on various maintenance and month end tasks around the island, which was made easier due to the animals and birds being less spread out as they hunkered down out of the wind.

Today, four branded sea lions were recorded and reported to researchers, who study sea lion ranges and lifespans.

The island’s population of elephant seals is currently at seven. One recently came back from a solo retreat on the West Rocks. The four non dominant males appear to be keeping their distance from each other at cardinal points of the island. The alpha male is hanging out in the middle of the island with the mother and pup. This morning, two of the beta males had fresh wounds on their backs, suggesting a possible disagreement with each other overnight. The elephant seal pup is continuing to nurse. Pups gain a whopping 4.5 kg per day from their 35 kg birth weight. Between all those pounds the pup is packing on and the rain, no wonder its coat is looking less wrinkled.

Wind, Fog, and Eggs!

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Weather: 

  • Visibility varied today. This evening visibility is excellent, 10-13 miles. This afternoon we were surrounded by fog and could not see even nearby north rock (less than 1 mile).
  • Wind this evening is blowing 30-40 knots. This morning was calmer, 12 knots.
  • Sky clear. This was interrupted mid afternoon by thick fog.
  • Water white capping and breaking into spindrift.

Boats/Visitors: 

  • Today was fairly quiet, with only a few whale watching boats in the morning which seemed to mostly keep a good distance. Greg visited this afternoon to deliver water as we are still waiting for the new desalinator. A former student visited as well.
  • The swiftsure international sailing race passed Race Rocks on Saturday, so we have been seeing the boats trickle back towards Victoria over the past couple of days.
  • Yesterday we spotted a rental boat from Pedder Bay Marina attempt to pass through the channel between our main island and the south islands.
  • Lately whale watching boats have been present viewing the elephant seals and sea lions. Many have appeared to be well within the 100m distance from sea lions required by DFO.

Whale watching boat disturbs sea lions on jetty

Whale watching boat approaches sea lions on rocks

Ecological: 

  • Two evenings past we noticed the first seagull eggs of the season. We noticed that one nest was missing its egg the next morning. The seagulls have become quite aggressive towards us but only if we get too close to their nest by accident.
  • There are still four elephant seals on the island, two moulting, the juvenile male from this past spring, and an older female.
  • The sea lions have remained on the SE side of the island, although fewer than what we were seeing before surrounding our jetty. They have been enjoying surfing the waves periodically.
  • Another oyster catcher nest spotted on the SW side.
  • We have been finding dead seagulls presumably killed by the bald eagles that have been hanging around. They especially like to sit on top of camera three.

Seagull guarding its egg and nest.

Other: 

  • Except for in the occasional presence of fog, we have been able to operate the island completely with solar on clear days.
  • We were in need of batteries so missed a few days of salinity/temperature data collection.

Very windy day

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 20-30 knts W
  • Sky: Partly cloudy
  • Water: White caps, 1-2 meters
  • Some light showers during the afternoon

Boats/Visitors

  • Just a couple of ecotour boats today due to the strong wind.
  • Not much private boat traffic either

Birds

  • The seagulls have gotten noticeably more aggressive but still no signs of offspring

Marine Animals

  • There were four Elephant seals on the main island today – one male and three female. The male and one female seemed to occasionally get aggressive with each other, but no harm was done to either.
  • One of the females still seems to be undergoing the molting process.
  • Elephant Seal tagged B198 is still on the island and has been in the same spot over the last few days.

Overall, quite an uneventful day.