Dr Hannah Wilson – Geography Professor VIU
What makes the weather of Vancouver Island unique? Is Nanoose Bay a micro-climate? After listening to our Geography Professor at the September meeting explain weather and how it affects us, we could all pass her class tests now!
In case you missed it, let me explain. We are in a rain shadow on Eastern Vancouver Island. The moist Pacific air blows into Tofino, dumps the rain and drier air rises over the mountains of Vancouver Island. It continues across the Georgia Strait picking up moisture again and is deflected upwards by the Coastal Mountains and rains again. Watch out Squamish.
Because of the influence of Mount Arrowsmith and the micro-influence of “the Notch”, Nanoose Bay has a unique weather pattern that can be different from Qualicum or Nanaimo. Also noteworthy was her explanation of: Junuary” – June is typically cloudier than May; Winter rainstorms – “pineapple express or “tropical punch”: and Major snowfalls from “Artic outflows”. Her slides are shown below.
While Hannah didn’t directly address Climate Change (another speaker perhaps) she did send me a cartoon that depicts climate change over time for you to see at the following link: https://xkcd.com/1732/
The additional links listed below provide more information on local current weather conditions:
