My Wet Coast Life

After a sleepless night on the wet coast with 80-100mm of rain falling on us overnight, and some areas getting even more, the wet coast's weather is in full effect. Sunny skies are not predicted until the 20th, sadly 12 days from now. This is definitely the season where you don't tan, you rust.

As the rain beats against the window, I really cannot complain that much compared to the poor folks in southern Ontario. I'll take rain over snow any day. Over the last couple days, they have been buried with snow with some areas reaching over 140+CM of snow! Environment Canada said some areas of London, Ontario saw up to 80 centimeters of snow on Monday. Another 20 to 30CM was projected to fall yesterday and another 10CM is expected today. To give you an idea of how much snow that is for that area, London only received a total of 108 centimeters of snow between December 2009 and March 2010. That's almost a year's worth of snow in a couple days! Keep in mind, places north of London got even more snow. Plus we are not technically even in winter yet and most likely this is a sample of what is to come.

Looking back to my weather prediction for the west coast that I posted at the beginning of October. It has been over 2 months since that post and with last nights heavy rain fall, I decided to see how my prediction is going so far if if I am on track or way off. If you didn't read or or need a refresher, the TL;DR, aka short and sweet of it, is:

"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."

So far, it has for the most part been correct. We have had a couple minor snowfalls on the coast (causing havoc here of course) and some not just cold, but damn skippy cold days for our area. Day time highs weren't getting above -5^oC and throw in the windchill, it was getting down to -15^oC or even colder range. Wouldn't be bad if it was dry cold like out East but wet coast cold weather tends to have moisture included, which goes through any clothes you are wearing, no matter how many layers. It sucks. My dog at least likes the snow but he also doesn't have to drive in it. Other than that, it has been a typical wet and overcast fall for the coast. Definitely a good time to consider taking some Vitamin D, aka the sunshine vitamin. Hmmm...I'm sensing a slight sidetrack off topic and why not? Maybe you can learn something? So let me ask you, why should we take Vitamin D supplements in the fall and winter? Well, I'm glad you asked (even if you didn't).

Vitamin D is produced naturally in the body through exposure to that big glowing orb in the sky's ultraviolet rays. Living North of 49⁰, we tend to get a lot less sun in the winter months. Some areas farther North barely get any sun (but make up for it with the Aurora Borealis). Recent studies have shown Vitamin D can strengthen your bones, thwart different forms of cancer, stave off multiple sclerosis and autoimmune disorders and fight infections. I think that deserves a winner, winner, chicken dinner. The Canadian Cancer Society said that based on current research, adults should consider increasing their daily dosage of vitamin D to 1,000 International Units (IU) of vitamin D daily during the fall and winter months. And of course, in consultation with a health-care provider before you start taking it. Safety first people.

And now that we may have learned something, let's get back to my winter prediction. I decided to check the 14 day trend for Vancouver on TheWeatherNetwork.com's site and see if any of the fluffy white stuff is planned for the middle of December. Well, as of this post, we have snow predicted from the 16th through to the 19th. How much we will get, based on the below image, will depend on temperature. It looks like it will be hovering just around freezing mark so that could easily switch to rain or sleet for lower areas. But if it does drop, we could get a decent snowfall. We will just have to wait and see and make sure we are prepared for a couple possible days of snow right before Christmas. Now if the coast will get a white Christmas, we'll need to wait a couple more days before the long term predictions come in and even then, weather is known for changing to both better and worse conditions.

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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.

After the lack luster first weekend of July is over and Mother Nature still not giving us a summer to remember. After a not so great June-uary, I seem to be rusting instead of tanning. Looking outside at another overcast day and temperature sitting around 15°C, I look east to Ontario and Quebec who are currently experiencing a hot, humid and smoggy heat wave. Now living on the wet coast, we tend to always get cooler weather compared to the B.C. interior and prairies mainly due to cool ocean breezes keeping us in check. But every so often the wind dies down and we get the nice hot weather and looks like that is coming in 1 day for us.
Now I prefer love the hot weather. Due to my lack of insulation, you can still find me wearing pants or layers in 20°C+ weather when others are sweating and pealing off all their clothes. So i decide to go check our weather and see if the weather is gonna get any warmer and sunnier.

To my surprise, it looks like we are about to get our first heat wave of 2010! WooHoo! Both Environment Canada and Weather Network show the heat is on the way!
After calming down from the shear excitement that the sun will be out and the temperatures nice and warm, I realized I live in Rain-couver where people loooove to complain about the weather. Whether it is raining too much or not enough, someone has to be a weather hater. As for me, my body works like a human barometer and whenever the weather is inclement, my body hurts. I can now somewhat accurately predict weather based on pain and its location. Now why do I mention this?? Well sun and high heat tend to be the only times I do not hurt which means little to no pain medication for my bad back = Win.

Now for my unfortunate family and friends who tend to “die” when the temperature goes over 25°, fear not for i have put together some tips and tricks to beat and deal with the gorgeous tropical weather on the way.

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So for Easter Friday, i amazingly got the day off work so Robotrogue and I decided for our next hike to go do the Lynn Loop in the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve in North Vancouver. It has a variety of trails, a suspension bridge, multiple other bridges and a cave tunnel (if you can find it). We arrived at the the Lynn Canyon Park entrance at around 8am and it was a decent 8^oC with a light rain and luckily, light wind too. The forecast for the day was winds, gusting over 70 knots, and up to 40mm of rain but we were prepared with more or less, the right gear for the weather. It is the wet coast, where you don't tan, you rust. Now Robotrogue recently got some new gear from Mountain Equipment Co-Op and T.A.D. Gear and this weather was perfect to test it out.

We decided we would start by crossing the suspension bridge and then head in a northerly direction and loop around to the Baden Powell trail. With one of the best ways to start a hike, we made our way across enjoying the view from the suspension bridge and the rushing water below. After some quick pics, we were on our way. Our first section took us along a gentle winding path running parallel with the river. After about 10 minutes or so, we were greeted by a rather daunting set of stairs. Hmmmm....

Now before going any further, a bit of background info. Both of us have the goal of getting back into shape and trying to get outdoors more often. I'm trying to gain weight and Robotrogue is trying to lose some. We decided to ensure we packed all the required equipment for a day hike, even though we were still close to civilization and a bit harder to get lost. Yet again, the expected terrain, anything can and could happen and always better to be prepared than not. This included a first aid kit, space blanket, change of dry clothes, water, food, mini stove (more on that later), whistle...well, you get the idea. We planned for the worst expecting the best, which is what we got. We saw a lot of people on the trail with nothing but a jacket but i guess they are either using the multi-use wide trails which have inherently less risk or just being ill-prepared for the outdoors and banking on someone else for assistance. This also gave us a decent weight in our packs to test our fitness level on a more intermediate hike than compared to our trek through Pacific Spirit park.

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Living on the wet coast, we are surrounded by forests. One of the benefits of living here is the ease of access to local and regional parks. Last weekend, a friend from work, RobotRogue, and I took my dog Wallace and went for a trek through Pacific Spirit Regional Park. It is located in the University Endowment Lands, west of downtown Vancouver and has over 54 km of walking/hiking trails, 38 km of which are designated multi-use.

As a little background to this, RobotRogue and I, like many techs, sit at a desk all day long. As with any sit down job, over time you get lazy and de-motivated and some people get fat as well as an indirect outcome of sitting all day and snacking. Now RobotRogue's goal is to get in shape and lose some of weight and eat healthier. He has traversed the net and found various useful sites such as Couch to 5K, which helps lazy people slowly get back into the work out routine and nerdfitness.com, who's slogan is "Helping nerds and average joes get in shape the right way, one day at a time."
Over the last couple weeks, i hear of his improvements and motivation. Now me on the other hand, i've gotten lazy over the years due to a back injury 10+ years ago and working more with less time to workout. I am lucky that i have a metabolism like a race car and don't gain weight really no matter what and how much i eat (yes, you can hate me now). I am at the other end of the scale for being under weight and standing over 6'1", i am commonly referred to as a stick, bean pole, someone who should eat more....well, you get the point. So when most people are losing weight, i want to gain it. This tends to tick off the weight loss people...

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