A Sudden Summer Storm

Mother Nature must have a strange sense of humor. Why else, after we spent a spring and summer of cool, wet weather in SE Alaska, would she greet our return to sunshine and warmth with this dramatic show?

Photo: Storm front approaches from the west

Photo: The view to the north as the storm front approaches.

Photo: The view to the east as the storm front approaches.

You know what followed, right? an end to the weeks of hot, dry weather on Vancouver Island. Central Coast B.C. welcomed a much needed downpour, the boats in the harbor were well-rinsed, and we just shook our heads and laughed.

Waiting Out a Storm

Lake Bay: a sheltered anchorage in a gale

Photo: Lake Bay by moonlight

We left Petersburg in mild, settled weather and enjoyed a routinely smooth passage down Wrangell Narrows but had to plan for forecasted stormy days ahead. Passing up several closer anchorages we headed directly for Lake Bay, a familiar, well-protected spot that would provide good shelter from the upcoming southeaster. If the predicted gale-force storm didn’t arrive, we could enjoy some fishing and shrimping opportunities.

Photo: our weather station reflected almost calm weather during our storm-caused stay inside Lake Bay

Stormy? Oh yes, the wind howled ferociously up Clarence Strait, while huge, ominous storm clouds piled high, their looming presence darkened the day far earlier than usual. Inside the anchorage our wind gauge registered steady 5-knot winds with mild gusts, never anything over 15 knots. No big deal. At the same time Lincoln Rock, six miles directly across Clarence Strait from our location, reported steady 48-knot winds gusting to 62! Lake Bay never felt so welcome.

We spent several days on anchor in Lake Bay, rocking gently in the barely discernible swells that wound their way around the point into the bay, and marveled at the continuing downpour – an “unseasonably wet” storm according to NOAA weather radio. I don’t know about that "unseasonable" label, we’re less than 50 miles away from Petersburg and they routinely receive about 109 inches of precipitation, half of that falling September through December. It feels like the deluge has begun a few weeks early. I'm commenting, not complaining, honest.

Khutze Inlet

Day 4 and more                                    59.1 nm

Khutze Inlet is a great place to spend some time when VHF weather posts strong wind warnings, then gale warnings for the area. As predicted, winds began to puff as we neared Khutze, but the water inside the inlet was glassy smooth. The head of the inlet was empty when we arrived so we returned to our favorite spot at the foot of cascading waterfalls, thundering down from a snowfield above. We found much less snow this year on the surrounding peaks, and none around the shore.

While we arrived in dry, settled weather, the rain soon followed. It’s Khutze, it rains, that’s just how it is. Raindrops beat down on roof, pounded on portholes and hatches, and threatened to drown out the background roar of the cascading waterfalls. Noisy calls from Bonaparte gulls and shrill shrieks of eagles occasionally punctuated this steady rhythm of water music. Otherwise the world around us was quiet. Each glance outside revealed our neighboring waterfall grow in size.This was a good day to bake cookies, work on photography, and stay tucked inside while it poured buckets outside… well, several inches at least.

New neighbors arrived in mid afternoon, anchored farther across the river delta, closer to the primary channel, and reported the weather forecast had not improved. Upcoming 35-45 knot winds and 2-3 meter seas were still predicted, good to know since surrounding mountains block VHF radio reception inside this fiordlike inlet.

Torrential rains increased the number of waterfalls around the anchorage and greatly increased the volume of water coming over each fall and down the river. The flooding river carried muddy water into the inlet, bringing scores of downfall trees into the anchorage. While most of the debris posed no immediate problem, two long specimens did snag on Mola Mola, a 58’ Fleming. A skiff assist from Great Bear II took care of the threat, but the vessels anchored close to the river must have kept an uneasy log watch that night. We were lucky, no trees, logs or other debris floated close to us in our waterfall site.

   
After several days the “quasi-stationery” storm front passed and we were more than ready to move on. Bear sightings would have made this rainy stay more exciting, but we enjoyed relaxing and socializing, meeting up with old friends and making some new ones.

Snow and more snow

Brrrrrrrrrrr. An Almost-Wordless Wednesday post.

Red in the Morning...

Red in the morning,

Sailor take warning…

"This old saying actually has a scientific explanation. It relates to moving high and low surface-pressure weather systems, and the way that the colors in sunlight are scattered differently by dirty and clean atmospheres. This is the explanation of how these phenomena combine to color our sunrises and sunsets." (NOAA link) 

I read then reread the NOAA page, trying to absorb the explanation of how a low pressure system has a cloudy and cleaner atmosphere causing different scattering of blue vs red light rays, etc. The diagrams helped and I thought I had a grasp on it, right up to the statement:

"A cleaner atmosphere at sunrise or sunset is colored by a mixture of all but the blue colors, giving it a yellowish appearance."

What? this week the atmospheric pressure was high, very high, and this is what a sunrise looked like… definitely yellowish. So much for science and folk wisdom - this calls for further study. 

Several cold, clear blue sky days brought frost to the boat decks and to the dock, freezing puddles of standing water that didn't thaw for days.

Finally this so-called Arctic Blast produced a lovely, early December snowfall. Snow shovels and brooms were put to good use, over and over, as the snow kept falling throughout the day. Almost six inches of snow fell, turning the marina into a black and white version of it's usually colorful self.

Some feathered critter managed to find a food source underneath the blanket of white... 

…while the local feral cats looked uncomfortable, waiting for their usual morning feeding from a small group of volunteers.

The tidal range was quite small this week, making the ramp to shore less challenging than it might have been. It was a slippery climb, but manageable.

This snowplow started work early, not waiting for the snow to pile up before clearing the road and parking lot. He kept busy all day, pushing the snow into small mountains around the shopping center.

Man-made objects added eye-catching spots of color to the black and white landscape ashore. While I enjoyed my morning walk, the cold got to me, I was ready to head back inside and warm up again with a hot cup of something. (link)

Under Cover for the Winter?

Not the Rhapsody

How do you protect a boat from the worst effects of winter weather? Without storing a vessel in a boathouse, local boat owners use a variety of methods to deal with the occasional winter snow, and the more common ice and driving rain in the Pacific Northwest. Recently the daytime air temperatures have dipped below freezing, but the saltwater has maintained a steady 43-44 F throughout the week. This makes it possible to leave boats in the water for the winter, rather than hauling them out to store on the hard.

Most boats are left open to the weather, hopefully watertight and leakproof. Other vessels sport tidy canvas covers, casual tarps, industrial grade polysomething shrink-wrapping, and more. On a sunny Autumn day the covered boats remind me of postponed adventures, parked on some mental shelf until… who knows when?