My Wet Coast Life

With summer officially over, days getting shorter and now having to use my headlights again on my morning commute, the fall wet west coast weather is upon us. September was one of the wettest months on record and Vancouver missed beating the 2004 record by a mere 3mm with 166.4mm of the wet stuff. Victoria at least gave the old record a stiff beating with a decent 112.3mm of rain. Not as much as Vancouver but Victoria’s old record was 86.4mm and set in 1959! Some areas of the coast have been battered in the last couple weeks by heavy rain and wind and getting upwards of 200mm in just a couple days.

Now that we are going into the months of shorter, darker, wetter days and with September giving us a possible taste of what’s to come, i decided to look into what forecasts and predictions are out there for the west coast. My main reason is to determine if my rain gear or snow gear will be put to good use, or both. So to start, i decided what better than the Farmer’s Almanac to kick this off. Based on the information on their site, we are going to get average to normal temperatures and precipitation but we can also expect cold temperatures in mid to late December, mid-January, and early and mid-February, with the heaviest snowfalls in mid to late December and a possible major snowfall in mid-February. OK, so skiers and snowboarders might have an extended season and so far looks like an average wet, soggy winter on the coast with a side of snow here and there for good measure (to remind us we still do live in Canada).

Checking the seasonal forecasts on Environment Canada, Vancouver is getting normal to below average temps and normal to above average precipitation….hmmmm…could be wetter than normal and we’ve already seen the one of the wettest Septembers. Let’s see if we can find more info to back this up.

Now I know some things about meteorology from school and air cadets, so i decided to search the intertubes to see if i can get more information. Now i know a little about El Niño and La Niña, so a couple searches and i came across Astromet’s forum post on his prediction for 2010/2011. Now keep in mind it was posted on July 11, 2009 and more for North America in general than just the west coast, yet it is fairly accurate to what we’ve had so far this year. For the coming months it adds to confirming that we are going to get a wet fall with some decent snow by February 2011.

Now for someone like me who gets affected by barometric pressure, or as i call it “rain pain", this does not look like it will be an enjoyable fall and winter for me. But yet again, that is why it is called the wet coast. But i will take rain any day over snow and that is one of the main reasons i always end up back on the wet coast. 6 months of snow drove me nuts in Ontario before and I prefer not to repeat that again if at all possible. One difference was at least out east, it is a dry cold so there were days i was outside in -10⁰C in shorts and a t-shirt. You will never see me in shorts and a t-short once it drops below 5⁰C on the coast mainly due to moisture that goes right through your clothes. Now don’t get me wrong, snow is great but only in certain circumstances and mainly recreational based. Cities like Vancouver and Victoria just cannot cope with heavy snowfall compared to cities in the interior mainly due to the lack of snow most years. I was stuck in Victoria for the blizzard of ‘96 and the city ground to a halt for 3 days. Add to that the inability of most drivers knowing how to drive properly in snowy conditions and have decent SNOW, not all season, tires. People on the west coast tend to forget this is still Canada, the frozen white north….

So based on what i have found, i would more or less sum it up to wetter than normal conditions with some snow around mid-December and again in February so my rain gear will get the workout and my snow gear will come out just enough to still feel loved. Snow tires, shovel and salt will still be needed but sump pumps and ensuring your gutters are clear may be of more importance.

Now one thing i got in May and only got to try out a couple times is my new Chlorophylle Moresby waterproof breathable jacket. So far the hikes and dog walks I’ve done wearing it, i’ve came out dry and comfortable. It is nice to have a proper waterproof yet breathable rain jacket, a definite must on the wet coast. I’ve had previous gortex jackets from Columbia and Helly Hansen but for fit and feel, the Chlorophylle jacket is my new favorite. This is not the first product i have gotten from them. In 1998, i went to Kenya for a year and got a Chlorophylle fleece vest. It provided me the perfect insulation on some of the cold nights (Yes, it does get cold there and I was at a higher elevation). In terms of quality, this sub-story will say it all. My co-workers and i were smart (err..stupid) enough to sit on the roof of our company Land Rover Defender as we flew along the World Cup Rally Safari Route for a project. Our driver got a bit to close to an Acacia tree (that have 1 inch spikes) and it literally ripped the vest off my back. After stopping and collecting my vest from hanging up in the tree, the only damage was the zipper got ripped off and a tiny hole from the spike (and i somehow got off with just a friction burn as it ripped off). I was in awe as i expected it to be shredded based on the speed we were going and the force it ripped off (was 1/2 zipped when it was ripped off). To this day i still have it, wear it as an layer and now i am planning on getting the zipper fixed. 10+ years proves good quality and design to me. I expect my jacket to give me the same benefits.

So you now know what could happen this winter but this should be taken with a grain of salt as Mother Nature can always change things or throw a curve ball just to keep us on our toes. Also i am no where close to having any accreditation on meteorology, weather prediction, etc. I just thought it would be fun to take take the info i found and making my observation and assumptions based on that. Also, i wanted to take a stab at this topic as my body tells me the daily weather and i wanted to see what is in store for me at least for this winter season. If i am wrong or way off, let me know. If i am right, cool.