What are Winter Storms doing before they make landfall?
The low often deepens to 970 millibars, or lower, while moving northeast at 35 to 40 knots. The low usually reaches its lowest central pressure over the Gulf of Alaska. The front that extends southward from the low centre, sweeps over the coastal waters bringing with it southeasterly gale-to-storm force winds, rain and heavy seas. With the most active fronts, the wind can briefly rise to hurricane-force strength at places such as Solander Island, on the northern end of Vancouver Island. As the low moves further north over the Alaskan coast and the front crosses the B.C. coast, the storm enters its mature stage and begins to weaken. Ahead of the front, gale-to-storm force southeasterly winds often build the seas to 9 metres over the northern waters and to the west of Vancouver Island. In the most intense storms the seas can reach 10 to 12 metres. Even after the winds decrease, heavy ocean swells, typically from 4 to 6 metres, arrive at the coast up to 12 hours after the front has passed
Related Questions
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- What are Winter Storms doing before they make landfall?
