Vancouver Fog

I was in Vancouver for meetings today. Sunny day in Howe Sound. As I headed into West Vancouver I drove into fog. I couldn’t resist the 5-minute trip up to the first lookout on Hollyburn. The road led up out of the fog. Heavy damp clouds blanketed the city, but I could see the snow capped mountains to the east and south of Vancouver. The big one is the volcano, Mt. Baker. Lovely seaside weather. Oh, please click the thumbprint.

Technorati Tags: Cypress Bowl, fog, forecast, Hollyburn, Howe Sound, nature, pictures, Salish Sea, weather, winter

The links in the sidebar of this blog have been reorganized

WordPress.com provides for a Blogroll in the sidebar. This is supposed to be a list of links to other blogs recommended by the author of this blog. I had been putting all of my recommended links there. Links that are not to blogs have now been shifted to new sidebar lists called, Interesting Links, and RSS Feed. Some of the technical reasons are discussed in the next pane.

Technorati Tags: blog, Blogging, blogroll, Categories, Network, link, WordPress

Too many pictures of snow! A walk around Killarney Lake

Reading this blog, you’d think we have a lot of snow on Bowen Island. I guess I’ve been showing snow because I like to play in snow and because it is so unusual to have it near sea level. We did have snow, and now most of it has melted. A couple of us walked around Killarney lake today.

Killarney Lake Weir

[More in the next pane. BTW, the images are thumbprints...]

Technorati Tags: fun, hike, Killarney Lake, Lake, nature, path, pictures, walk, snow, weather, weir, wind, winter

Great Backcountry Skiing on Hollyburn Mountain

The conditions at the summit of Hollyburn Mountain today.

This still amazes me. It is raining in Vancouver. There is no snow on the ground. We found snow as we drove up the hill from West Vancouver — it began somewhere around 500 meters altitude. [Continue in the next pane...]

Technorati Tags: blizzard, Canada, cold, Cypress Bowl, fun, nature, pictures, Hollyburn, rain, ski, snow, Telemark, weather, winter

Why is a family member escaping Bowen Island?

Continue in the next pane for the story.

Technorati Tags: Canada, cold, nature, outage, pictures, snow, weather, winter

Igloo Update – It survived the thaw! Sort-of

One of the Igloo builders called me with a report on the condition of the igloo described earlier in this blog.

[Continue in the next pane for more...]

Technorati Tags: cold, Cypress Bowl, fun, igloo, nature, rain, snow, weather, winter

The High Road to the Snow in SW British Columbia

The climate around the Salish Sea is one of the mildest in Canada. So we have only a few days of snow every winter. For those of us who like to ski, there is lots of snow in the local mountains. Knowing where to find it on a day trip from Vancouver is the key to planning.

[Continue in the next pane for more...]

Technorati Tags: Canada, cold, fun, map, nature, ski, snow, Telemark, winter

Clear – but more snow to arrive today

That mighty low pressure that marched up the north eastern coast of Asia last week has arranged itself into a series of depressions that are now advancing on the north Pacific coast of North America.

In the grey light of dawn (as I write) it looks like another clear cold day on the Salish Sea. This bubble of cold high pressure should be pushed eastward and the clouds will be here this afternoon. The forecast is for 5 to 10 cm of snow to fall on Vancouver overnight. Periods of precipitation will continue all week. It should remain chilly enough that all of this will be snow up in the hills. Good!

Technorati Tags: Canada, cold, Cypress Bowl, forecast, fun, Howe Sound, nature, Salish Sea, ski, snow, weather, winter

Snap – a new WordPress feature. Do you like it?

Snap is a new feature at WordPress.
Click Continue or move to the next pane to read more about the use of Snap at the Salish Sea.

Technorati Tags: blog, Blogging, blogroll, Snap, WordPress

A cold day sailing on the fjord

 

See my Tabblo>

This is typical local weather in the winter. When there is precipitation it is mild. Often that means it is raining on the snow up in the hills – not what a backcountry skier wants to hear.

The mild rain is followed by a high pressure system that brings a bubble of clear frigid air. This can turn the rain-soaked snow to a sheet of ice.

Sometimes things happen so that the precip falls as snow, and the subsequent freeze leaves lovely powder in the high country. As I am looking at the hills, that is what I hope will await me this weekend (if I can escape).

That picture is part of a 3-panel panorama. To see it, a click will to take you to Tabblo. There you can view or download one of several sizes of image. The scene is late morning on the upper deck of the Queen of Capilano as it leaves its birth in Horseshoe Bay for the 20-minute trip to Bowen Island. You are looking north, up the fjord called Howe Sound. It was so cold that even the smokers were not out on deck.

Technorati Tags: Canada, cold, fun, Howe Sound, nature, pictures, Salish Sea, ski, snow, Tabblo, weather, wind, winter