Posts Tagged “Weather”
The weather in Kitimat has been awful during most of the fall, cold, windy, rainy, foggy and generally miserable. Not unexpected in a La Nina year.
I went down to Kitamaat Village for the monthly bird count in a rain squall. So the visibility was pretty bad. As I was about to leave, a half dozen northwestern crows landed right beside me, in the pouring rain and stayed long enough for me to shoot their portraits.
A near blizzard did not stop the people of Kitimat turning out for the Remembrance Day service on November 11, 2017.
Building a snowman before the Remembrance Day service (Robin Rowland)
Laura Mckenzie and Linda Lewis checking the wreaths prior to the service (Robin Rowland)
An RCMP officer leads the colour party (Robin Rowland)
The colour party (Robin Rowland)
The RCMP march to the cenotaph. (Robin Rowland)
The invocation, left to right, Dwight Magee, Royal Canadian Legion, Rev. Dr. Dona Lethbridge, Legion chaplain, Marg Bogaert, Royal Canadian Legion. (Robin Rowland)
Cubs and scouts at the Remembrance Day service (Robin Rowland)
Lucy Beatty of the Royal Canadian Legion Ladies Auxiliary lowers the flag during the two minutes of silence (Robin Rowland)
A moment of silence. (Robin Rowland)
Veteran Jason Parrill lays a wreath on behalf of Canada. (Robin Rowland)
Anne Berrisford lays a memorial wreath for Captain (Chaplain) D. Schmidt. (Robin Rowland)
A cub lays a wreath. (Robin Rowland)
Mayor Phil Germuth lays a wreath. (Robin Rowland)
The wreaths (Robin Rowland)
A Mountie salutes during the playing of O Canada. (Robin Rowland)
Canada Geese on a take off run in the Kitimat River estuary, Dec. 17. 2016. (Robin Rowland)
I made the annual trip with Walter Thorne into the Kitimat River estuary on Saturday, Dec. 17 for that leg of the Kitimat Christmas Bird Count.
We didn’t see as much variety as in previous years because the region had been the grip of an icy -15 C at least cold snap for the previous ten days. That meant many of the creeks and wetlands that were open in previous years were totally or partially frozen over.
Parts of the estuary were completely or partially frozen in the cold snap (Robin Rowland)
So that meant we saw lots of Canada geese and ducks.
Canada Geese flying over the frozen wetland (Robin Rowland)
And up into the trees. (Robin Rowland)
A northern shoveller. (Robin Rowland)
An American coot with a bit of a plant in its beak. (Robin Rowland)
A bald eagle looking through the gloom. (Robin Rowland)
A gull at the end of a snowy log. (Robin Rowland)
A Christmasy scene, ducks and geese by two evergreen trees. (Robin Rowland)
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)
The choir from Kitimat’s Christ the King Catholic Church perform in a dark and rainy night at Kitimat’s Festival of Lights, Nov. 22, 2014. (Robin Rowland)
Hundreds of people (including lots of kids) turned out in a chilly, wet, West Coast November downpour on Saturday for Kitimat’s Festival of Lights, officially marking the start of the holiday season.
A construction truck created an arch of Christmas lights over Mountainview Square. (Robin Rowland)
Puddles reflected the lights as the rain continued. (Robin Rowland)
A couple of reindeer in lights on the back of a flatbed. (Robin Rowland)
A dump truck arrived, lit up like a Christmas tree. (Robin Rowland)
Then just as Santa Clause was due to arrive, the rain stopped.
Santa Claus, sitting on the Kitimat Fire and Rescue Ladder 11 talks to kids at the Festival of Lights. (Robin Rowland)
The CCGS Gordon Reid, a Canadian Coast Guard offshore patrol vessel, is seen on a stormy, wet and windy Douglas Channel, off Coste Island, south of Kitimat, on Sunday, Oct. 5, 2014.
The Gordon Reid is currently (as of 2200 Oct 17, 2014) towing the Russian container vessel Simushir which lost power off the coast of Haida Gwaii and threatened to run aground on the island’s pristine shores. (CBC story as of 2200 Oct. 17, 2014)