My earlier post that referenced the weather mentioned that we had had the last rain of the Spring and so could reasonably expect no more water from the sky until September. Well, luckily I was wrong (we have droughts in the Summer that lead to water restrictions etc). We had a very cool and wet June but now the heat is back. The grass is yellow, and the leaves on the trees are a little more dusty yellow.

The interesting part of living on an island is that it doesn’t heat up like a large city, or in fact any place that doesn’t have temperate ocean cooling. To our south, the Straits of Juan de Fuca only warm up about 1 degree Celsius between Winter and Summer. But, on the other side of the peninsula, Saanich Inlet can warm up a lot. So, we see some pretty uneven temperatures across the area all at the same time. Here’s a snapshot:

Where I live is 9 degrees Celsius hotter than down in James Bay, and 7 hotter than downtown. Friends down in James Bay never need an air conditioner. Without one, even in my properly insulated house, it reaches 28 degrees Celsius before 4pm. So, if I were to merely look at the Weather Network, it’d be giving me some pretty erroneous data for my area.

Luckily, the site that I use is amazing. School-Based Weather Station Network has automatic weather observations systems (AWOS) on every school in the area and in fact, on the Island (and the surrounding Gulf Islands). This means that you can get really beautiful and useful weather mapping for planning your outings. The moderating influence of the water also means that the hotter places are in the Summer, the colder they are in the Winter. From a world creation perspective, this type of thing can add a lot of flavour and interest with certain areas being much hotter or cooler, with shrines or fortifications having to deal with significant differences in how they deal with the weather.

What you see on the news or local station may not reflect what you’ll see outside. It can be hotter, colder, windier. In some cases, on this side of an island called Race Rocks, there will be no fog. On the other side there will be thick, thick fog that lasts for a week and no one in the city is the wiser.

The picture of the large tree sticking out over a stream that you’ll occasionally see on the banner is taken by yours truly on the West Coast Trail 12 years ago and really illustrates the difference of micro-climates here. On the trail it never gets hot, just wet. There is no drying off in the Summer. The blue areas on the West Coast in the image above is where you find most of the old growth. It is a true rainforest and is stunning. Here it is again in normal size:

Those of us who go to sea, for our living or enjoyment, and those of us who wander into the wild, pay close attention to the vagaries of our coastal climate and it seems to make our home here a little more special than many think it (already) is.

This afternoon I swore I felt a small earthquake. Nothing big. Almost like a door slammed in the wind and then a tiny bit of shaking. I checked online and I was right!

Living on Vancouver Island is different from elsewhere in Canada – not only for the lack of major snowfall. We are perched at the edge of a small tectonic plate, and we are overdue for a “1 in 500 year” quake. You know, the type that caused a tsunami in Japan about 300 years ago. We are ALSO overdue for a “1 in 10,000 year” quake. Which is even worse. By a lot. This week over 250 small quakes hit the island in less than 24 hours. This is normal slipping that occurs each year. And each year the island tilts a bit more and moves 5mm to the west. Where we will eventually link up with New Zealand and create a new dominant pacific empire! Or not.

Anyway, earthquakes are on people’s minds out here. There are many earthquake preparedness seminars around. People have emergency supplies for a couple of weeks (well, some of us do). Schools practice earthquake drills, and so do all major provincial and federal government offices (including the Naval Base in town). The CBC, our public broadcaster, even has a podcast that walks people through what we will experience with the two major types of earthquakes that we are likely to have.

Being from “Out East” (anything east of the Rockies for Islanders) this is different for me, but really interesting. People from out here look at houses near the shore and instead of thinking only of the beauty, think, “Tsunami danger.” And indeed, there are tsunami warning signs and sirens in low-lying areas on the western and southern portions of the island.

While we all know that the “Big One” will happen in the near future, and so people talk about preparedness when we see earthquakes hit similar places like Christchurch, NZ. Then they forget and think about 72 hours of supplies instead of weeks.

Interesting point to note, 72 hours comes from nuclear fall-out not from earthquake survival. Yes, for most nuclear weapons, if you shelter in a basement for 72 hours you can then walk outside without significant risk of radiation poisoning. The West, during the Cold War, told people to be prepared for war, and over two generations those lessons seem to have stuck and now emergency preparedness here on the Island has to push to get people ready for longer as our mountain passes and transportation links are vulnerable.

All in all, something about Island life (and lasting impacts from the Cold War) that people may not know about.