Ferries cancelled as southwest B.C. hit with storm on Christmas Day

B.C. Ferries cancelled trips between Metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island as a windstorm slammed into the southwest coast of British Columbia on Christmas Day.

Very strong southeast winds are expected for much of Vancouver Island and the South Coast, with wind warnings covering the entire B.C. coast up to Haida Gwaii, Environment Canada said.

The federal forecaster said wind speeds up to 90 km/h, gusting up to 120 km/h, are possible in exposed coastal sections of the North Coast.

Environment Canada added the winds will be accompanied by heavy rain on western Vancouver Island, Metro Vancouver’s North Shore, northern Coquitlam and Maple Ridge, where residents can expect up to 100 millimetres of rain.

“During the afternoon of Christmas Day, the weather system will bring heavy rain to Metro Vancouver and Squamish,” Environment Canada said in a rainfall warning. “Over higher terrain above 300 metres elevation, a brief period of wet snow may give slippery conditions.”

The weather office said another storm will arrive overnight, which means strong winds “will be widespread over the South Coast and persist for a long duration.”

While Environment Canada said rain and wind could ease in Metro Vancouver by midday on Boxing Day, it warned of localized flooding and potential power outages due to the storm.

On Christmas Eve, B.C. Ferries pre-emptively cancelled much of its daytime sailings on major routes between Metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island on Dec. 25.

Other trips to and from smaller islands and across inlets on the South Coast were also cancelled on Christmas Day.

For current information on coastal ferry disruptions, visit the B.C. Ferries service notices page.

No ‘white Christmas’

The storm affecting B.C.’s coast is the second in a series of three weather systems hitting the province this week.

Kelly Greene, the province’s emergency management minister, said the storms are much stronger than they used to be, due to climate change.

“We’re seeing more extreme weather patterns,” she told CBC News on Monday.

“We are working with municipalities [and] other local governments, to make sure that their flood mapping is up to date, that they are planning for different kinds of hazards than they would normally be thinking about.”

Greene advised residents to check road conditions and give themselves extra commuting time this week, as well as to check up on emergency resources to ensure they’re prepared.

The storms have brought warmer and warmer-than-usual temperatures, according to Environment Canada. This means much of the South Coast and B.C. Interior isn’t seeing a “white Christmas.” 

Eight B.C. communities broke maximum temperature records on Dec. 23. It was 12.9 C in  Vancouver, whose previous record high temperature for the day was set in 1919.

“It is still nevertheless very warm and is the result of a series of unending warm storms that have crossed the coast, brought warm air over the southern Interior, and kept temperatures elevated for basically the whole month,” said Chris Doyle, an Environment Canada meteorologist.

Doyle says that all of B.C., even the far northwest, has seen warmer-than-usual temperatures. He pointed to climate change as a major factor in the unseasonably warm winter.

“The projection [is] that over in the fullness of time through the next century, the likelihood of a white Christmas will decrease in Canada,” he said.