There's no group paddle today, as Victoria is on the receiving end of its first real blast of winter in a couple of years. Right now, the temperature is -3C with 10 centimeters of snow on the ground, with more on the way. (And before all you Easterners start laughing at us, we normally have highs of plus 7C this time of year, so this is quite unusual for us. Also, we here on the We(s)t Coast consider anyone who lives east of Chilliwack to be an Easterner. This includes you, Albertans. But I digress.)
We are experiencing what weatherdudes call an "Arctic Outflow." The jet stream has moved south of us and a big low pressure cell is dragging down cold arctic air. The cold air funnels through the Rocky Mountains creating strong winds. Our forecast for winds today is 50kmh, with gusts of 70kmh or higher. So it's not the cold air per se that's hitting us hard on the Island, it's the wind chill that's sucking every iota of heat out of everything and chilling us to our bones. And it's going to get worse as the highs in the last half of this week are forecast to be as low as -7C. With the windchill, it's going to be nasty. And it doesn't look like it's going to warm up much until Christmas Day. The good news is that we may get a white Christmas this year, which normally only has odds of 1-in-20 of occurring in these parts.
John, when ranting about cold in Victoria it's important to mention the humidity. Cold in the Prairies is drier, cold weather here feels like getting a bootful of puddle water and being all sweaty inside yer parka after shovelling snow.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it really is cold here today, not just the "oooh, it was so cold today that while golfing I hand to wear gloves on BOTH my hands!"
But heck, long johns help. After wearing 'em all day, I felt warm enough to go salvage a floating dinged-up kayak. And did!
How nice to have another blogger complaining about the cold.
ReplyDeletePaula, the humidity here is nothing! Try Ottawa where your feet feel wet all winter long and your bones are chilled. I think my body remembers wind chills way below this. I delighted in this mild weather, although the wind is powerful.
ReplyDeleteI wont say your a bunch of whiners but...
ReplyDeleteToday it's a High of -35 with a wind chill of -43, I'm sorry but no humidity can make up for that kind of difference.
I can say this next line is true more than ever.
"I wish I was there"