Archive For The “storm” Category
Attempting to dig out in Kitimat, as the blzzard continues, Saturday morning, Feb. 7, 2015. (Robin Rowland)
A “Pineapple Express” brought a major blizzard to the Kitimat region last week, dropping approximately 180 centimetres of snow from the morning of Thursday, February 5, 2015 until the skies cleared late on the afternoon of Saturday, February 7. In my neighborhood, the power first went out at about 3 pm on Thursday, came back at 11 pm. It went out about 11 am on Friday and didn’t come back until about 2:30 pm on Saturday.
Power was also out at Kitamaat Village from Thursday until late Sunday. Early Sunday morning, the Haisla Nation Council ordered a voluntary evacuation, with two convoys of vehicles heading to Kitimat. While many people stayed with friends and families, about 20 people took refuge at the Riverlodge Leisure Centre. Other members of the Haisla Nation stayed in the village, gathering at the Haisla Recreation Centre.
The clean up continues in Kitimat.
Images from Thursday night until Wednesday afternoon. A mixture of photos and frame grabs from video.
This gallery does not include the images I fed to The Canadian Press.
Here is a link to the CBC News photo gallery of my CP images.
Thursday, February 5, 2015, approximately 6:15 pm
At this point, early into the storm, all the power was out in Kitimat, with the exception of the street lights on Haisla Boulevard, which illuminated a few trees as I shot this on Albatross Avenue. Sony Alpha 6000, ISO 3200, 1/30, F3.5 from my window. (Robin Rowland) (Higher ISO images were too noisy)
Friday February 6
The same view, from ground level, the next morning. Framegrab (Robin Rowland)
Heavy snow on branches (Robin Rowland)
As the power goes out again on Friday, heavy snow continues to fall. (Robin Rowland)
Trying to dig out in the early afternoon. Framegrab. (Robin Rowland)
A pick up tries to make it through the heavy snow. Framegrab (Robin Rowland)
A District of Kitimat crew digs out the fire hydrant in front of my house, Friday afternoon. (Robin Rowland)
A woman in white makes her way through the blizzard, Friday afternoon. (Robin Rowland)
The snow was really heavy near sundown on Friday. (Robin Rowland)
Trying to dig out as night falls. Note that is supposed to be a pedestrian crossing. (Robin Rowland)
Friday night
This front end loader was called in late Friday evening. Framegrab (Robin Rowland)…….
….so a Kitimat Fire and Rescue pumper could get back to the fire hall. Framegrab (Robin Rowland)
Saturday morning
About 3 am Saturday, some lights came on in the Kildala neighborhood, while much of the rest of Kitimat was still in the dark. (Robin Rowland)
On Saturday morning, much of Kitimat was buried under about 170 centimetres and the snow was still falling. (Robin Rowland)
Digging out begins again as the blizzard tapers off. (Robin Rowland)
A raven flies overhead as the snow stops falling. (Robin Rowland)
As the storm ends, two people walk on the heavy snow on Albatross Avenue. (Robin Rowland)
With the storm ending, the beauty of the trees and snow. (Robin Rowland)
A view of the snow covered Kitimat estuary and Douglas Channel after the storm. (Robin Rowland)
Sunday, February 8
Volunteer chefs hard at work in the Riverlodge Leisure Centre kitchen during the voluntary evacuation of Kitamaat Village. Framegrab. (Robin Rowland)
Digging out the trailer park. Framegrab. (Robin Rowland)
BC Hydro contractors at a road block at the entrance to the Kitamaat Village Road. Framegrab. (Robin Rowland)
Monday, February 9
Clearing a roof Monday morning. Framegrab. (Robin Rowland)
The snow was clearly a heavy load on one roof. Framegrab. (Robin Rowland)
On Monday morning, side streets were still clogged with snow. Framegrab. (Robin Rowland)
And the Service Centre was still digging out. Framegrab (Robin Rowland)
While the District of Kitimat snowblower was still working on main roads, like Nalibila. Framegrab (Robin Rowland)
Tuesday
A snowblower clears the sidewalk behind my house. For those not familiar with Kitimat, as part of the original Garden City plan, sidewalks are generally behind houses. (Robin Rowland)
Wednesday
Heavy equipment digs out the fire hydrant in front of my house. As seen above it’s usually two guys with shovels. I estimated there was at least three metres, perhaps four metres, of snow on top of the hydrant, put there earlier by the snow blower clearing the street. (Robin Rowland)
Headstones on The Old Burial Ground, Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts during the blizzard on Dec.6, 2003 (Robin Rowland)
Boston, like Kitimat, is buried in snow. I was in Boston, staying in Cambridge for a conference, when the region was hit by a blizzard in December, 2003.
According to the Boston Globe, the area has received 196 centimetres of snow so far this winter (77.3 inches). Kitimat got about 180 centimetres (70.80) inches during the storm between Thursday morning February 5 until the afternoon of Saturday February 7.
So here, from archives, are the images I took while stuck in that blizzard of 2003. (Note: I am still working on the Kitimat blizzard photo gallery)
The Old Burial Ground, Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts during the blizzard on Dece.6, 2003 (Robin Rowland)
The statue of John Harvard in Cambridge, during the blizzard of Dec. 6, 2003. (Robin Rowland)
The US flag at a headstone on The Old Burial Ground, Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts during the blizzard on Dec.6, 2003 (Robin Rowland)
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.
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, looking east at Basalt Creek. (Robin Rowland)
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.
On Sunday morning, Feb. 13, 2011, got up to go to the washroom around 5 a.m., looked out the bedroom window and rain was washing away the snow from the previous week’s storm.
When I woke up just after 10 and looked out again, snow was coming down, really coming down.
@cindysjyu tweeted at 1038, as I was finishing breakfast.
Kitimat reported 12 cm of snow so far. #BCstorms
So, went out and dug out the driveway.
Snow kept falling, and falling.
At 1538, I retweeted,
RT @cindysjyu: Kitimat reported 38cm of snow so far. #BCStorms
and out I went out to again to dig.
I didn’t attend to go out again, but late in the evening at 2103 another tweet sent me out again.
@cindysjyu: 83 cm in Kitimat and counting. #BCStorms
Now that point I wondered if Kitimat was going break its own record for the most snow in Canada in a 24 hour period.
Kitimat had set the record for an urban area in 2000, with 113 centimetres or 45 inches. Nearby Lakelse Lake set the all time Canadian record in 1974 of 118 centimetres or 49 inches.
So out I went again. Just in case that record was broken overnight. I wanted the driveway as clear as possible, so that if I wanted to go out and shoot, I’d be ready.
Of course, I took a camera with me, the Sony NEX-5, which can be set to ISO 12800. As I was digging, the district snowblower came out of the darkness.
.
So the driveway clear as it could be, I went back in the house, preparing to save these photographs, just as the power failed and the house went dark. The lights came back on after 45 minutes and so it was off to bed.
So Valentine’s Day dawned and once again, checked Twitter.
Kitimat Mayor Joanne Monaghan, who monitors snowfall amounts for Environment Canada, told local radio station CJFW: “We had, from 6 o’clock or 6:30 yesterday morning until 7 o’clock
this morning, we had 99.5cms of snow,” said Monaghan, adding “It’s going
to start being a problem with what do we do with the snow?”
So no national story about a new snow record. Big local story and a single clip on CBC Vancouver News.
Nor was it pretty, overnight the storm changed to wet snow, not worth shooting.
So a routine day, gym, supermarket, more digging.
Tomorrow is another day.
That’s about 29 centimetres of snow piling up on a tree, luckily framed by a red brick wall at the back of a local mall, Nov. 29, 2010.
One thing I learned back on my first job as a two-way man (reporter-photographer) on the Sudbury Star was always carry a camera. It was in 1975-76 and one of the two full time staff photographers bought one of the first Olympus Trip 35 cameras you could fit into a jacket pocket. On the night of an Ontario provincial election, we had all shot various candidates. My colleague left his company gear in the office and drove home, only to come upon a serious accident, which he was able to shoot with the Olympus.
So now, years later, back in my old home town of Kitimat (Kitimat, the name given by the neighboring First Nation, the Tshimshian, means “People of the Snow”), the first big winter snow storm of the season starting this morning was no surprise. It brought back memories of my childhood.
There was not much opportunity to shoot, at first. A bolt that attached the chute on my brand new snow blower disappeared into the snow (bad design, none of the nuts would tighten properly, apparently designed to be kept somewhat loose) so I had to shovel the driveway.
I had a doctor’s appointment and so after digging out and driving down to park at the mall, I noticed the snow piling up on the trees by the doctor’s office. Had a long wait in the doctor’s ( big lineup of seniors ahead of me and after me as well).
The northwestern winter light was already fading when I got out. I had taken my Sony Alpha 700 with me,. so I took the time to take some shots of the trees, before walking through shin deep snow back to the mall (where I shot tree against the brick wall) before heading to the hardware store to get better nuts and bolts for the snow blower and to the supermarket to buy groceries.
So drove home and got stuck the moment I backed into the driveway, that much more snow had fallen in the about two hours as I waited, saw the doc and shopped. But got the snow blower fixed and got the driveway clear just as it was getting dark.
Always carry a camera, even if you are stuck in the snow, and going to the doctor and trying to find the right kind of nuts and bolts in an old fashioned hardware store. (Nearest big box is 60 kilometres down a snowy covered highway).
Went inside, warmed myself up with some green tea and watched CBC News Vancouver, where my former colleague Claire Martin very cheerfully informed the people of British Columbia that up until the time of the supper hour newscast, 29 centimetres of snow had fallen in Kitimat.
