Solving the mystery of guessing at the weather

Dave Pollard has put together a nice summary of how to forecast Bowen weather based on the methods I have used for a number of years.  Have a read here on the Phorum.

What makes my heart sing

In the winter when the snow comes on the edge of the wet southeast winds chilled by the powerful outflow Squamish winds the days are dark and cold. When the weather passes and the skies clear this is the view that steals the breath of islanders no matter how long you have loved here. The Brittania Range is coated in heavy snow and the thin sun is hitting that eastern wall of our inlet on a sharp angle. The white of the mountains and the blues of the sky and sea.

Big Squamish blowing

Trees down, power out. Big winds churning down the Sound.

Update: Robert Ballantyne has more details about this big wind.

Snowfall and cloud

All day the first winter storm of the season has been brewing.  We got a taste last night with a little snow overnight that changed to rain this morning, at least it did below 400 meters, as evidenced by the snow line on the Britannia Range acros the channel.

Tonight is a big deal.  We are expecting 10-15 cms of snow combined with a howling Squamish blowing 80km/h and gusting to 110 km/h in the more northerly inlets along the coast.  That means tonight will be brutal stormy but tomorrow will be stunning.  Camera in hand, I'll hope to capture it all.

First real snow on the mountains

Leaving Bowen the other day I shot this photo of the first real snowfall on the Brittannia Range for the season. You can see the snow is at about 1000 meters, three quarters of the way up Black Mountain.

Winter us coming.

Deer everywhere

WE have the tamest deer in the world here on Bowen. If you wanted to you could probably hunt them with a hammer.

NOT picking up hitchhikers is illegal!

Hitchhiking is a way of life on Bowen Island. Before we had busses, and even back before Wes's taxi ran hither and yon, folks stuck out a thumb to hitch a ride to where they were going. Early on in my residency on our rock I learned that you never wave to a driver who is going the same way as you, because they will almost always stop and ask if you need a ride.

When a friend of mine moved to Bowen a few years ago, he was without a car and he hitched to the Building Centre to buy an axe. When he emerged, he was nervous about hitching a ride with a new axe and so he walked all the way back home. When he started telling this story several long time islanders laughed and said that he should have thumbed a ride. They said he would have had a better chance of getting a ride because people would have been curious to see his new axe.

That's how it is. Or at least how it HAS been.

These days people are more reticent to pick up hitchhikers for whatever reason. I think it's about new folks coming to the island and not knowing everyone and not used to the culture of letting people ride with you. But hitch hiking remains a way of life for many without cars - young people, older people who can't drive, and others, and its an important part of our rural and informal transportation system. The bus doesn't go everywhere on the island and Wes doesn't drive so the thumb is the way to go.

Now a new group on Bowen has emerged to make hitch hiking and ride sharing a more organized affair. Bowen LIFT is out to enhance our traditional cultural practices for getting around. Give them a visit, download a sign and get with the program!