Posts Tagged “clouds”
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)
Since I moved back to Kitimat, I’ve flown from Northwest Regional Terrace-Kitimat airport to Vancouver several times, spring, summer and winter,. There’s always been snow on the mountains. This year I went down on September 7 and flew back on September 11.
On the flight down I looked out and saw the Coast Range mountains. All but the highest peaks with no snow, the rest of the high mountain tops, normally bluish and white from fresh snow. Now both on the flight down and the flight back, those mountain tops were a dull brown. So was 2014 just a dry year, with no fresh snow or is this another indication of climate change?
The images were taken from a Westjet Bombardier flying at 25,000 feet. Digital photographs have been slightly colour corrected to eliminate bluish tint from the atmosphere, but all reflect what I saw. As in the image at the top, you see the deep green of the forest on the lower slopes, the dull brown and grey of the rocks of the peaks and the snow, snow only seen in the areas where the sun seldom reaches and that snow itself dull, old, covered in dust.
Dirt covered glaciers sneak in the valleys they’ve carved while higher up the mountains are bare, brown, sepia, black and grey, just like the deserts I saw when flying over Nevada a few years ago,
A closer view of the glacier and the peaks. There has been no fresh snow for weeks.
A river snakes through a valley, where the rain forest only reaches only about a third way up the slopes. The rest is bare.
The only snow visible is on a stump like mountain top overlooking a green valley.
Dirty snow on the peaks overlooking lush river valleys.
Another glacier in valley empties into a lake with bare mountains above.
While one mountain still has snow at the top….
On another there are some bare traces of snow and an alpine lake.
More ice and snow on a peak, a glacier and dirty desert like slopes.
On the way back
Leaving Vancouver, heading north and looking east.
More mountains with just a trace of snow.
A gorgeous green glacier fed alpine lake.
Glaciers come down from the peaks, and join together surrounded by bare rocky peaks.
The sun sets over the Kitimat River and the snow covered Sand Hill, in Kitimat, BC, February 20, 2014. Converted to black and white using Perfect Effects 8 to emulate Ilford FP4125, with some highlights and shadow enhancement. (Robin Rowland)
Original image. The sun sets over the Kitimat River and the snow covered Sand Hill, in Kitimat, BC, February 20, 2014. (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.
Another gorgeous evening in Kitimat, August 13, sun set lit clouds and the quarter moon setting over Douglas Channel.
Sunset and quarter moon setting over Douglas Channel, Kitimat, Aug. 13, 2013. (Robin Rowland)
Telephoto (200 mm) view of the forest and Kitimat harbour, Aug. 13, 2013. (Robin Rowland)
Another telephoto (200 mm) view of the forest and Kitimat harbour, Aug. 13, 2013. (Robin Rowland)
A perfect end to a BC Day holiday weekend, sunset over Douglas Channel, Kitimat, August 5, 2013. (Robin Rowland)
A bald eagle flies over the water at the east end of Kaien Island just before the Prince Rupert Port Edward turnoff, June 3, 2013. (Robin Rowland)
A bald eagle circles over the mountain on the mainland at the turnoff. (Robin Rowland)
An eagle skims the ocean, hunting for prey. (Robin Rowland)
There were actually a pair of bald eagles that day, so here’s one high up on the thermals (Robin Rowland)
And another shot of the same eagle (Robin Rowland)
And on June 21, a cloudy, rainy day in Kitimat, a bald eagle appears a silhouette against the clouds.