Strong winds Sunday night delayed ferry travel. On the Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen route, the 6 p.m. sailing of Spirit of Vancouver Island was held in dock at Tsawwassen until 8 p.m. because of the severe weather. The B.C. Ferries website showed it being full. Journeys for Coastal Celebration and Coastal Renassiance on the route stretched to more than an hour behind schedule.
Environment Canada reported wind gusts up to 59 km/h on Sunday afternoon and evening at Victoria International Airport. Gusts of up to 71 km/h were recorded at Vancouver International Airport. Both airports reported numerous flight delays.
A wind warning predicted gusts of up to 90 km/h along B.C.'s south coast. The wind is expected to ease early Monday morning.
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An overnight windstorm knocked out power to thousands of B.C. Hydro customers and Environment Canada warns there is more gusty weather ahead.
The cause of most outages was trees falling across electrical wires. The power went out at 7 p.m. Saturday night for 2,632 B.C. Hydro customers in Victoria, Saanich and Esquimalt and came on at about 10:30 p.m.
The Gulf Islands and Cowichan Valley also had trees falling across wires.
About 300 B.C. customers on the south Island were still without power by noon Sunday.
“The strongest winds occurred between midnight and 3 a.m.,” said David Wray of Environment Canada.
Winds at Victoria International Airport were clocked at 45 kilometres per hour gusting to 67 km/h.
Race Rocks saw gusts of 90 km/h.
Snow fell on higher elevations, which is of course good news for skiers at Mount Washington Resort.
The snow level was at 600 to 700 metres on Sunday, said Wray.
Another weather system is expected to arrive in Victoria Sunday afternoon and evening.
“We’re looking at southeast winds of 60 gusting to 80 km/h,” said Wray.
“Probably the strongest winds will be offshore but it will still be pretty gusty in Victoria harbour and places like that,” Wray said.
The long range forecast shows a progression of similar storms.
