5.5 foot snowfall

[MurrayM]

Egad...

Snowed 4 feet in 24 hours, and 5.5 feet in the last two days. Power was off for over 24 hours as well.

We have a Nectre Bakers Oven wood stove (shout out to you Aussies!) so we were warm and made some cakes, roasted potatoes, and other goodies.

Problem is, the road to the marina is still closed. Phoned down and left a message on their answering machine saying they could do our boat if they have someone shoveling boats off, and sent an email as well. I went down the day before the storm started to make sure everything was okay.

Hate not knowing...

 

[JDCAVE]

Yes, I was wondering how you were doing up there. Now if this were Boston, Toronto or NYC, we would have never heard the end of it. We're wallowing around in warm water down here. Never seen so many pineapple expresses.


Jim
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[cardude01]

It was 75 and sunny in South Texas. I worked on my tan. ?

 

[rochepoint]

Ok Murray I will stop complaining about rain. Hope everything is well when it melts.

 

[MurrayM]

It was 75 and sunny in South Texas. I worked on my tan. ?

I was working on my tan too (Sun reflects off the snow & works great!)

There's supposed to be a pilot car on the road to the marina tomorrow. Stay tuned for more photo's...

Here's some bungalows that got drifted over;

 

[Northern Spy]

Here's hoping your boat made it through all right. Looking forward to pictures!

 

[MurrayM]

Here's hoping your boat made it through all right. Looking forward to pictures!

Thanks. Should be okay, because we didn't get a call from the marina to notify our insurance company...if you know what I mean

 

[MurrayM]

One last photo - Douglas Channel as the sun sets. MK Bay marina is around the first point on the left.

 

[Hydro]

That is a lot of snow. Hope your boat is OK. It has been quite rainy in Anacortes. I was in Terrace & Prince Rupert in July, beautiful country up there! Stay warm. Randy

 

[cardude01]

Wow. All that snow is really pretty, but this SoTx boy would freeze his arse off.

 

[MurrayM]

Well...hung out at the turn off to Kitamaat Village and the marina for over an hour this morning.

There was one group of vehicles that came through when they evacuated the Village (no power for three days) but the road is shut down for good until they can make it safe again.

There are still trees falling across the road and snapped power poles hanging from their wires so low a diesel truck couldn't make it.

Two gilnetters have sunk at the Village marina.

We had small heaters going on the boat, and a small heat lamp in the engine room. The Heart Interface Freedom inverter/charger has a function where it's supposed to shut down the AC to the heaters and lamp when the shore power goes out...sure hope it worked!

The batteries were topped up as of three days ago. The bilge pump is wired directly to the 4D starting battery. The stuffing box drips maybe once every 5 or 10 minutes at the dock. Seacocks are closed.

The PO of the boat never had heat in the engine room, and never shut the raw water seacock even in -15C weather...he trusted that the comparatively warm Pacific Ocean water radiating through the hull would keep the engine room above freezing. (I once let it go to -10 to test his theory, but that was as far as I was willing to go on that one). It's currently -5C.

Talked with one of the Kitamaat Village emergency coordinators this morning, and told him if he knew someone still at the Village with strong shoulders and a shovel who wanted to make some extra cash, he could shovel our boat. Will discuss payment later!!!

So...here's hoping things work out.

 

[MurrayM]

Badger floats!

Sadly, five or six boats sank at MK Bay, three at the Village marina, and a boat house collapsed in Minette Bay.

There never was a pilot car today, and people had to drive down the 10 km at their own risk.

The power was still off at the marina (for three days now) and Badger's doors were frozen shut so I couldn't get in. The boot stripe was under water when I got there but came up out of the water a good 4 inches after shoveling. That's a heck of a lot of weight!

Here's some photo's;

 

[Northern Spy]

Hooray!

That looks like a few Advil might be needed tomorrow morning.

 

[MurrayM]

Hooray!

That looks like a few Advil might be needed tomorrow morning.

Yup, the arms have been getting a real work out for sure, and legs too because the plastic shovel broke halfway through, and I had to break apart the layers with my feet.

Hope I never smell so much diesel at a marina again

 

[Pack Mule]

Cool pics Murry . Badger looks like she can handle it with her bow turned up .

 

[IntervaleII]

That is just all wrong to see that much snow on boats!
Very pretty.


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Capt. Don

 

[Nomad Willy]

We had some snows at Thorne Bay but not anywhere near 5'.

Here we're shoveling the boat and the floats. We were requested by the city (village) to shovel the floats .... they actually thought they may sink.
In the pic that's my daughter in law and son David helping. Would depend mostly on the rain and temps after the snow I suppose.

Murray staying warm should be easy w all that insulation.

Looks like you're in good shape Murray. When it all freezes be careful not to fall down and break your body. Do you have ice cleats for your boots?

 

[MurrayM]

We had some snows at Thorne Bay but not anywhere near 5'.

Here we're shoveling the boat and the floats. We were requested by the city (village) to shovel the floats .... they actually thought they may sink.
In the pic that's my daughter in law and son David helping. Would depend mostly on the rain and temps after the snow I suppose.

Murray staying warm should be easy w all that insulation.

Looks like you're in good shape Murray. When it all freezes be careful not to fall down and break your body. Do you have ice cleats for your boots?

Hi Eric,

We were lucky that it was fine particle blowing snow, not the big, fat, falling straight down snow like in your photo. If it had been the 1.5" diameter flakes that are so big when they land on your tongue they don't melt away so you have to chew them (coastal SE Alaskan's know what I'm talking about) it would have been an even sadder story at the marina.

There was a big lazy arctic cold system slowly rotating down from the Gulf of Alaska, a warm moist system (pineapple express) heading up from Hawaii, and cold northerly outflow winds from the interior of BC...and where all three met was right over our heads.

Cleats? You bet. The Post Office gives us the run of the mill carbide spikes for walking our letter carrier routes, but when it gets really gnarly I break out these bad fella's https://kahtoola.com/product/microspikes/

 

[MurrayM]

Here's a drones eye view of things during a lull in the storm;

News - Drone footage shows record B.C. snowfall from a whole new perspective - The Weather Network

 

[roguewave]

WOW, thats some snowfall. All the best to you dealing with all that. (I got a dang sunburn yesterday working outside, 80 degrees). last week is was 32.

 

[Nomad Willy]

Murray keeping your young in your mouth might help lessen your discomfort. o

 

[MurrayM]

Record snowfalls equal record carnage. Here's some photo's of a couple boats that sunk and two collapsed boat sheds. Don't know the official tally yet, but word on the dock is that the storm set a record for damage in the marina in addition to total snowfall.

 

[GFC]

Wow, those pictures are really sad to look at.

 

[C lectric]

Murray, Sorry to see that. You are lucky but obviously others were not.

I think I recognize the Palmer, the first photo, as originally called the Western Glen when I new it and the owners about 12-15 yr ago.

The 13K number says it came from the Vancouver area, some of the details I can see tell me I knew the owners at least one or two removed. If it has, still has, an alum. radar tubing mast, then it was the Western Glen.

My sympathies for those that lost their vessels and hope that in the end the Badger fares well.

 

[MurrayM]

Thanks guys; it sure is a sad sight.

The boat in the first photo does have an aluminum tubing radar mast, so it must be the boat you're thinking of. The current owner is a great guy with a gazillion years experience on the coast of BC who used it well. Life dealt him and his family some really bad cards these last couple years, which kept him away from the boat. My heart breaks for him.

Badger came through unscathed. Managed to get the frozen sliding doors open today and was happy to find the inverter/charger automatically goes back to the setting it was in when the power went out.

I always thought a boat shed would be a great idea...if I ever go that route I'll be sure to have it designed to withstand 5 feet of compact drifted snow on one side of the roof!

 

[siestakey]

Record snowfalls equal record carnage. Here's some photo's of a couple boats that sunk and two collapsed boat sheds. Don't know the official tally yet, but word on the dock is that the storm set a record for damage in the marina in addition to total snowfall.

yikes!!!!

 

[MurrayM]

Here's the official word from the marina:

"Gooday to you all,

I am sure by now you are aware of the major incident we have had with the weather at the marina? The staff and I are doing our very best to solve the ongoing problems. We do apologize for any inconvenience you might encounter.

We have been fortunate in having some of the local boat owners showing up on site and they have been kind enough to assist in the cleaning snow off other vessels; and we thank them very much for all their help.

I am sorry to say that we do have five vessels sunk as well as two boathouses. It looks like the boathouses were over loaded on one when the snow slid off the opposite. side and they flipped.

I have been in contact with the new owners of the marina and they are doing all they can to assist us. They are looking at securing a barge which can carry a crane to recover the sunken vessels.

We are doing our best to keep you informed of the ongoing situation, however please feel free to call us if you require any more details.

Thank you for your understanding."

 

[Capthead]

It's always a sad day when boats sink.

 

[Carolena]

It's always a sad day when boats sink.

Amen to that. We had one sink in our marina just this past week. That and one that burned at the start of winter - we were there on that one and thanks to quick response from the fire department when we first saw smoke it was contained to the one boat and didn't sink. We lost three boats last winter. none of this due to snow - just poor maintenance and failure to winterize systems. My family in NH has gotten about five feet of snow in the past two weeks. It was mid-60s here over the weekend, and we deciced to have a seafood boil at the marina!

 

[Capthead]

It's going to be over 80 here tomorrow and high 70's today. It's hard to relate to 5' of snow.