Special Weather Statement Issued for North Coast - Coastal areas for Friday/Saturday

An energetic weather system is heading the
way of the North Coast and Haida Gwaii
(Satellite image from Environment Canada)

Update:   A Wind Warning has been issued as of 10 PM Thursday for the North Coast and Haida Gwaii. Strong southeasterly winds will rise as the system approaches, reaching up to 90 km/h on Haida Gwaii and on exposed coastal sections of the North Coast mainland. Winds will peak Friday night over Haida Gwaii and Saturday morning on the mainland.

It will be a wet and windy weekend for the North Coast and Haida Gwaii with Environment Canada issuing a Special Weather Statement for the region just before 1 PM Thursday.

The Statement outlines the path of a trough over the Pacific that will direct Strong Southeasterly Winds to both Haida Gwaii and then the North Coast in the Friday night, early Saturday period.

Periods of rain will come with the approaching system and for inland areas of the North Coast that will mean Snow for Terrace, Stewart and other points somewhere towards 10 to 15 cm, along with the snow is the chance of freezing rain during transition periods.

(Click above to enlarge)

You can access updates on the approaching weather from the Environment Canada website.

As the Pacific front arrives, road conditions can change quickly, you can access the latest road updates across the Northwest from the Drive BC website and twitter feed.

As well as from the list of Video cameras along the routes, though at the moment, the Terrace area cameras are all out of order.

The front will also make for nasty weather on the water, with Storm Warning now in Effect for all areas  of the Hecate Strait. Winds from the SE to 45 Knots are being experienced at the moment,  diminishing overnight, only to build again to SE 55 by Friday evening.

Seas will build to 4 metres into Friday evening

The latest notes on the marine weather can be explored here.

For past notes on the Weather on the North Coast see our archive page here.

Santa has taken to lift off as annual gift giving travels get underway

Santa is underway for his 2019 tour of the world

Those of us on the North Coast still have a bit of time before the sound of sleight bells and reindeer hoofs are heard around the region, offering perhaps a glimpse of a famous red nose guiding the man in Red in the Sleigh to his appointed rounds.

However, in many parts of the world the annual Journey of the North Poles most famous resident has already taken flight with the flight path of Mr. Clause being followed closed by NORAD the joint Canadian-American Air Command which keeps watch on all things in the skies.

As Santa arrives in Canadian and American airspace, jets from air bases across the country will be taking to the air to help Santa reach all destinations on the continent.



As they do each year, NORAD has provided a link to satellite tracking, giving Canadian and American children just a bit of a heads up as to when they should be in be and the cookies, milk and treats for the reindeer left out.

You can keep watch with NORAD through the NORAD tracks Santa website, with its live look ins along the way.

The NORAD Tracks Santa Facebook page also features some behind the scenes glimpses of the staff on duty for the night as well as range of games and fun activities to take part in while Canta works his way around the Globe.

Updates on the travels are also available on Twitter, Facebook and Periscope.

NORAD caught a glimpse of Santa as he departed the North Pole hours ago, beginning his whirlwind 24 hour trip around the globe that ends as he hits Hawaii.





As of the Noon hour in Prince Rupert, the flight plan so far has taken Santa to Eastern Russia, Australia, New Zealand, China and much of Asia with the Jolly Old Elf directing the Reindeer guiding system to points west.

Santa's travels from Christmas Eve 2019

Back home at the North Pole, Canada

Over Hawaii

Anchorage Alaska

Kitimat/Terrace/Smithers/Prince Rupert/Haida Gwaii

Vancouver

Victoria

Los Angeles/Las Vegas

Calgary, Alberta

Chicago

Mexico

New York City

Toronto

Quebec City/Montreal

Santa approaches the East Coast of Canadian Air space

Rio de Janiero Brazil

London England

Paris France

Berlin Germany

Santa over Rome

Santa over the Pyramids of Egypt

Athens Greece

Sydney Australia

Shanghai, China

Taj Mahal India

Over Moscow Russia

7,575,576,003 Gifts delivered

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, 
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle. 
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight— 
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

Snowfall warning in place for North Coast Inland, Rain and Strong winds on way for Prince Rupert for Boxing Day

Christmas eve will be a snowy one for some areas of the North Coast Inland section of the Northwest with a Snowfall Warning put in place by Environment Canada earlier this morning for the North Coast including the Stewart area, with expectations of 15 centimetres through the morning easing by midday.

For the North Coast including Prince Rupert, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day will be relatively calm, with the rain of this morning giving way to cloudy skies with sunshine expected on Christmas Day.

A marine system is forming up off in the Pacific with a track to the
North Coast expected by Christmas Evening and Boxing Day

Things will change significantly however by the time you sit down to Christmas Dinner with a Pacific front making its way towards the North Coast bringing Rain and Strong winds to the coastal regions of the North Coast and the potential for snow along the Highway 16 corridor.

Rain and Strong winds continue through Boxing Day and on Friday, with rain in the forecast through the weekend ahead. And again, that could mean for snow in the inland regions of the Northwest

You can keep up to date with the weather through the Environment Canada website.

As the weather arrives road conditions across the Northwest can change quickly, you can keep track of the latest conditions through the Drive BC website and twitter feed.

You can also check the Ministry of Transportation Highway Cameras along the way, though a few of them particularly towards Terrace and in that city proper are currently no operating, making your travel planning a little hit and miss.

Already there is a Gale Warning in effect for the waters of Haida Gwaii and the North Coast.

With Winds increasing to 45 knots by Christmas Day, seas will build to 4 metres today and remain at 3 metres for much of the next 48 hours.

Should there be any significant weather warnings issued over the Christmas/Boxing Day period we will update the blog accordingly.

For notes on past weather events on the North Coast see our archive page here.

Blue Knuckles for good Causes December 27th, annual Lions Fishing Derby set for Friday

After a couple of day's of Christmas Dinners and Boxing Day Open Houses, a chance to get away for a bit and maybe reel in some great prizes arrives on Friday with the Blue Knuckle Day, the popular day on the water for some that makes for an annual holiday tradition on the North Coast.

This years event takes place on Friday, December 27th from Daylight until Dark in the tidal waters around Prince Rupert with the proceeds this year to be delivered to the Salvation Army, Search and Rescue 64 and the Oldfield Creek Hatchery.

The event which this year will be honouring the memories of Marc Desautels and Jeff Carlson has been a fixture on the Prince Rupert Calendar since December of 1992, making for larger and larger numbers of participants looking for a break from the hectic pace of the holiday celebrations.

The Lions took on the project following the passing of Marc Desautels in 2009, the Lions added Mr. Carlson's name to the event following his passing last year, the two popular members of the community gave much in the way of their time and support for a range of activities.

This years Weigh in takes place from 3 until 6 at the Moose Hall, with the awarding of prizes to come from 6 to 7 PM

The entrance fee to the event is 25 dollars and participants will then be in the running for  range of prizes donated by local merchants, with the Top Three prizes for those who do some fishing and deliver the largest Cleaned Salmon as follows:

Fist Place -- $1,200 Cash courtesy of Harbour Machining

Second Place -- $800 Cash courtesy of Lighten Up electric and R and R Rewind

Third Place -- $500 Cash courtesy of the Port of Prince Rupert

Participants are also up for door prizes, with a 1,000 Door prize to be awarded courtesy of Gateway Dental.

DP World has also donated a $1,500 Gift Certificate for Travel through Quadra Travel in Prince Rupert, part of the raffle that the Lions host as part of the event.

Raffle tickets available for five dollars for a large number of other prizes to be given away at the Moose Hall event.

Tickets can be purchased at Pacific Net and Twine, Seasport, The Northern View and Northwest Fuels.

Tickets are also available from Lions Club members.

Over 400 tickets for the Blue Knuckle Derby were sold at last years event and it remains one of the popular holiday events in the region.

You can learn more about the event from the Lions Facebook page here,

Find more items of note from our Community Notes archive page.

Hazelton resident the Grand Prize Winner in CityWest's Twelve Days of Christmas

Just in time for Christmas Eve the elves at the CityWest workshop have wrapped up their 12 Days of Christmas Plus One celebrations. the popular annual event having now has put the bow on the Northwest communications company's seventh year of gift giving to loyal customers across the Northwest.

Friday was the day to announce the closely guarded Grand Prize, which was a stay at the Crest Hotel and Adventure Tour Getaway.

The wrap up prize to be delivered to Deborah Henderson of Hazelton who will be making her was west at some point in the future for the North Coast Getaway.

The Grand Prize announcement was posted to the  CityWest Facebook page.

The daily awarding of prizes began on December 4 with the Bonus draw and then the Twelve Days began their countdown towards Friday's Big Finale.

All of CityWest's customers were entered in the draw, the complete list of prize winners can be found below.

You can learn more about the annual giveaway from the CityWest website here.

With the Christmas New Year period now here, CityWest will have some holiday hours in place for customers to make note of, you can review those below:

More notes on the Prince Rupert based communications company can be found here.  

A wider look at the Commercial sector in the Northwest is available here.

Fourth significant quake recorded in Queen Charlotte Sound area today

This item has been updated to note a second 6.0 quake today.

Two significant earthquakes, both  listed as 6.0 in magnitude and the largest of three recorded today so far, has struck in the southern reaches of Queen Charlotte Sound, located 176 kilometres to the West of Port Hardy, the most recent ones recorded at 11:49 AM and then again 12:49 this afternoon both were noted as at 10 kilometres depth.

12:56 PM

11:49 AM


They follow two moderate sized temblors recorded late this morning in the same area, with a 5.2 and 5.6 seismic event listed by the USGS.

You can review our notes on the previous earthquakes here.

As was the case in the quakes of earlier today, there has been No Tsunami Warning generated by the latest seismic event.

The archive for the previous quakes and those to follow can be explored here.


For more notes related to seismic events along the BC and Alaska coastline see our archive page here.

Swam of moderate to significant earthquakes in Queen Charlotte Sound December 23 - 25

An archive of the swarm of seismic events taking place on December 23rd off the coast of Vancouver Island Northwest of Port Hardy.

Our reports on the day's quakes

Fourth significant quake recorded in Queen Charlotte Sound area today

5.2 and 5.6 quakes recorded off coast of Port Hardy

The events  most recent to first, click on each for more details

December 25

12:38 PM -- 4.8 mg (182 km W of Port Hardy)

December 24


7:32 PM -- 6.3 mg  (182 km W of Port Hardy)


December 23

9:32 PM -- 4.3 mg ( 29 km WSW Queen Charlotte Haida Gwaii) (Not listed by USGS)

3:38 PM -- 4.9 mg (160 km W of Port Hardy)

12:56 PM -- 6.0 mg   (163 km W of Port Hardy)

11: 49 AM -- 6.0 mg (176 km W of Port Hardy)

11:13 AM -- 5.7 mg (170 km  of Port Hardy)

10:44 AM -- 5.2 mg (166 km W of Port Hardy)


For more on past seismic events see our archive page here.
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