Pacific Storm Lingers Into A Second Day

A frontal system moves ashore as the parent low slowly weakens in a semi-stationary position off of the Southeast Alaska coast. After passing over the North Vancouver Island coast yesterday morning, the front has finally reached the Vancouver Metro area and surrounds. Visible satellite photo taken at 0900 PDT 03 Apr 2012. Image courtesy of the US National Weather Service.

The frontal boundary has finally moved through the Vancouver Metro area. E winds of 17 km/h (9 kt) at 0800 shifted to NW 35 km/h (19 kt) gusting 46 (25) by 0900. The temp fell from a rather warm reading of 10ºC (50ºF) at 0700 to 6.1ºC (43ºF) by 0900. Steady light rain accompanied this transition, and the barometric pressure began to rise. On my drive in, I observed rain intensity that in my estimation approached moderate at times up on the hill around Queen Elizabeth Park and driving in to the University of British Columbia.

The semi-stationary cyclone is nearly at the same location as this time yesterday morning, perhaps a few degrees further north. Satellite photos taken this morning are quite similar-looking to those of the previous day. The low, however, is much weakened, with a central pressure at 0500 (1200 UTC) of 97.8 kPa (28.88" Hg), according to the HPC surface analysis.

Here are peak wind and gust speeds from this event for selected stations. Most maxima occurred on 02 Apr. However, winds have recently picked up along the frontal boundary in a few places, such as Abbotsford and Bellingham. These peaks are denoted in italics:

Peak Wind and Gust: km/h (knots) Deep Haida Gwaii Cyclone 02-03 Apr 2012 (PDT)
Loc	Wind	Dir	Time	Gust	Dir	Time
Port Hardy	44 (24)	ESE	0800	70 (38)	ESE	0800
Campbell River	59 (32)	ESE	1306	81 (44)	SE	1200
Comox	65 (35)	SE	1200	83 (45)	SE	1400
Victoria	37 (20)	SE	1100	56 (30)	SE	1100
Vancouver	41 (22)	ESE	1100	52 (28)	ESE	1100
Abbotsford	33 (18)	S	0900	44 (24)	S	0900
Bellingham	33 (18)	SE	0953	57 (31)	SSE	0817
Navy, Whidbey	48 (26)	SSE	0856	69 (37)	S	0739
Quillayute	35 (19)	S	1553	74 (40)	SSE	1552
Tofino	56 (30)	SSE	0900	80 (43)	SE	1100
Estevan Pt	69 (37)	ESE	1500	93 (50)	ESE	1400
Solander I	120(65)	ESE	0600	143(77)	ESE	0900

North Vancouver Island received the strongest winds with this storm, both on the coast and in the interior. Comox and Campbell River were hit with significant gusts in excess of 80 km/h (43 kt), but nowhere near the magnitude of the 12 Mar 2012 windstorm. Further south, yesterday morning's wind forecast did not pan out for either Vancouver Metro or Bellingham.

Quite cold air has moved in behind the front. At Quillayute, for example, the temperature fell from 8.3ºC (47ºF) at 0353, with winds S 15 km/h (8 kt), to 2.2ºC (36ºF) at 0653, with winds E 9 km/h (5 kt), this after a period of heavy rain (5.6 mm, or 0.22", in the hour ending 0453) and gusty westerly winds as the front swept inland. The temp fell further to 1.7ºC (35ºF) by 07:53, with light rain continuing. Tofino reported 3.9ºC (39ºF) at 0900.