Another fall storm caused BC Ferry cancelations and power outages on southern Vancouver Island on Tuesday afternoon, with the worst of the storm yet to come.
A weather event known as a "bomb cyclone" is happening off the coast, where a sudden pressure drop in an area causes a large stormy air mass to rotate around it. "You need the central pressure to drop 25 millibars or more in a 24 hour period. And this one's definitely doing that," says Environment Canada meteorologist Brian Proctor.
Proctor says the term bomb cyclone has been around for a long time but has been getting more media use recently. "It's a term that's been used in the literature for quite a long time. We call it explosive cyclogenesis - a term meteorologists might use more than the media would."
For Greater Victoria, the result is high winds gusting up to 100km/h off the Juan de Fuca Strait. The winds will peak late Tuesday evening and into Wednesday morning. Some rain is expected but wind is the main event.
BC Ferries cancelled the 7pm and 9pm sailings between Swartz Bay and Tsawwassen on Tuesday as a precaution. Gulf Island routes were unaffected (as of 4pm Tuesday).
BC Ferries Spokesperson Ceilidh Marlow says more cancellations may come. "There's certainly a strong risk of cancelation for our first round trip on the major routes on Wednesday morning."
The high winds were already causing power outages by late afternoon Tuesday with more expected overnight as the storm builds.
There was an extra element to contend with further Up Island, with snow falling over Mount Washington and other higher elevation terrain.