Storm warning on the Skeena

Robin Rowland 
Storm over the Skeena River
Menacing clouds over the Skeena River, looking west from near the Khyex River (Robin Rowland)

On Thursday, October 3, I drove to Prince Rupert for an appointment. With heavy cloud cover on the way into to Rupert I didn’t get much of a chance to shoot the fall colours which are just beginning to peak on some parts of the Skeena (but not everywhere, due to micro-climates you can drive through bright yellows and then a few kilometres further on it’s all still green).

Appointment over and after a hearty seafood lunch at Cow Bay, I headed back to Kitimat, listening on the car radio to the storm warnings and wind warnings from Environment Canada for yet another major early fall storm approaching the BC coast. It was soon apparent from the darkening skies that you didn’t need an Environment Canada weather warning that a storm system was moving in.

 

Storm over Kaien Island
Stormy weather at the Port Edward turnoff on the east side of Kaien Island, looking west. (Robin Rowland)

Prince Rupert is on the northwest corner of Kaien Island. Highway 16 skirts the the west end of the island until you come to the bridge to the mainland where the highway will either go east to Terrace or south to Port Edward. At the viewpoint just before the bridge, you could see the gathering storm. (By the way there was no rain at all during the time I was driving back and stopping at various points to shoot).

 

Storm over the Skeena
Storm over the Skeena, looking east at Basalt Creek. (Robin Rowland)
Stormy weather on the Skeena
Stormy weather on the Skeena, at Basalt Creek, looking south across the river. (Robin Rowland)

Just a few kilometres further on, despite the dark skies, the Skeena was flat calm. Those pictures in the next blog.

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