Mt. Nusatsum

Mt. Nusatsum

Monday, July 30, 2012

Power


All of the Bella Coola Valley's electricity is generated locally, either by diesel generating units which supplement hydro or just the Clayton Falls Hydro Station in the summer when the power demand is lower and the water flows are high.   The good part about this is we are 'off the grid' in case the grid is ever taken out by a Coronal Mass Ejection which could put people out of power over vast areas.  The bad part is we are 'off the grid' and subject to local situations of power ups and downs.  We have had a few this summer, mostly short duration with no apparent reason, other than lots of winds and earlier some high water which sometimes affects the hydro station.  Hydro crews are tough folks though and seem to get out in all kinds of weather and situations to 'get the lights back on'!  Grizzly

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Dry


For most of this week the  Bella Coola Valley has had great weather.  This morning, there was the briefest of rain showers but after that it turned nice again.  Conditions are now getting very dry and forest fires are a concern.  One visible fire occurred this week on an island in the Bella Coola River, downstream from Walker Island but it seems to be out now.  Grizzly

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Fish



While the above  photo has no fish in it, it is the precursor to fish.  These burlap sacks of rocks are ready to be put in place in the river channel to support a 'broomstick' style fence which will guide and capture chum salmon into a holding area.  The federal government fish hatchery staff at Snootli Creek will then take eggs from some of these fish to be hatched at the hatchery.  The chum salmon are now returning to the Bella Coola River.  Grizzly

Monday, July 23, 2012

Back to Good Weather

After all the nice weather of the previous two weeks, just in time for the Discovery Coast Music Festival on Saturday and Sunday, some clouds and showers moved in.  It wasn't real bad and no one got totally soaked and rained out, just periods of showers and lots of clouds hampering the views.  Right on queue today though the weather has cleared again and a nice sunny day followed.  A few more nice days are in the forecast. Grizzly

Friday, July 20, 2012

Discovery Coast Music Festival Weekend

Saturday and Sunday this weekend in the Bella Coola Valley is the Discovery Coast Music Festival.  It's a very family friendly relaxing event.  Performers play on a stage beyond the Lobelco Hall and everyone picks a piece of lawn or a lawn chair to watch from.  They leave some room in front of the stage for dancing in the evening and kids during the day.  The views in all directions of the mountains are spectacular. The fabulous Carmen and Camille will be the Saturday night headliners this year.  Grizzly

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Big Water

I hadn't looked too closely at the Bella Coola River since the hottest days of the weekend and yesterday until today when I realized how high it is.  The hot weather is taking the snow melt off, which should have come off more gradually in May and June, in a short time period and you can see it now in the river. Grizzly

Monday, July 16, 2012

Hot and Hazy

Another warm 32 C day with a bit of haze in the air, but not enough to really affect the quality of good day.  The evening was beautiful with the light on the mountains.  This photo is Mount Nusastum in the evening light.  Grizzly

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Hot Spot

According to CTV News, Bella Coola was the Canadian Hot Spot today at 30 C (it must have been a really bad day in the rest of the country!).  Both days this weekend were warm and comfortable and today very humid.   Last night in the eastern end of the valley there was lighting, thunder and rain but nothing on the western end of the valley.  It cleared off today enough to heat up pretty good but bring higher humidity.  Lots of areas of BC though with thunderstorm and intensive rain showers causing more landslide problems which is unfortunate for some small communities, especially in what should be our best and most relaxing part of the year in this province.  Grizzly

Friday, July 13, 2012

Summer Colour

After a week of hot weather (31 C today), the Bella Coola River is in full summer form, more towards green than the spring freshet brown.  All the glaciers and snow are in the full annual melt with the nights staying warm and the days hot. It's almost comforting to see it back to a colour that is normal.  Grizzly

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Noisy Kestrels

For a  month or more in our neighbourhood we've listened to a noisy family of Kestrel hawks raising a family in some large trees on the neighbour's property.  They're noisy but entertaining, in the various squawks and calls between the parents and the young.  They are also very effective hunters and have put the 'fear of the hawk' into the dozens of robins which live on our lawn and eventually strip our cherry trees about now when the cherries ripen.  I watched one pursue a robin one day until it became baby Kestrel food after a dramatic window collision of the robin and the final take down on the lawn.  While our neighbor has had to put up with the noise of the busy family and we've enjoyed their antics, this week it was time for the fledglings to fly.  One of them made an unsuccessful attempt at flying and had to be given a little bit of direction by the tree owner to a safe perch.  I'll miss them when they grow up and the neighbourhood is quiet again.  Thanks to DeeDee for the picture.  Grizzly

Monday, July 9, 2012

Hay

With the wet cool spring we had and just enough warm days thrown in, its been good for grass growing.  There is lots of nice, rich looking hay coming off fields today after 5 or so days of good weather.  A couple farmers I talked to have commented about the good growth this year in fields that were inundated with flood waters from the Great Flood of 2010.  If you are a longer term reader of the  bellacoolablog.com you will remember the extreme 1 in 200 year flood of September 2010.  There are only a handful of hay fields in the valley that didn't have some level of water on them and the siltation load from that flood was extreme, plus it seemed to be a relatively rare event where we got a ton of silt out of the Atnarko River drainage which has it's headwaters well east of the Coast Range of Mountains and in a totally different geologically formed area likely with different minerals and nutrients.   While I don't have any data to make my point, the silt is what makes alluvial flood plains over time and most alluvial flood plains are where the best farming areas in BC are (Fraser Valley, Kootenay River Valley, Nechako River, Peace River being a few). Grizzly


Sunday, July 8, 2012

Hazy

We had a great weekend in the Bella Coola Valley, it could have been a bit warmer but some of the sun was being blocked by the smoke that has drifted over the southern part of the province from the forest fires in the USA and Siberia.  In any case the weather was good and the folks cutting hay are having a good run at it.   Grizzly

Friday, July 6, 2012

Good Days

Like the rest of the province, we've finally had some summer weather for a couple days this week with mid 20's temperatures.   Tourists are around and seem to be enjoying themselves and I've heard the tourist information centre at the Norwegian House in Hagensborg has  been very handy this year with information and interesting things, so do stop by if you get a chance.  Grizzly


Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Improvement

Finally some good weather is upon us.  We are way past due.  It cleared out very nicely in the valley tonight and some good days are in the forecast for the Bella Coola Valley.  Hopefully it's enough of a good weather window to allow the folks with hay crops to get them cut.  The way this summer has gone, the good periods are far and few between.  Grizzly

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Rodeo Pictures

It wasn't a hot and dusty Bella Coola Rodeo weekend, but neither was it rained out.  Just cool with a few rain showers.  There was a big turnout of competitors because of a slight formatting change this year that allowed participants to take part in events over two days and accumulate points towards the overall rodeo circuit system (something like that someone tried to explain to me anyway).  A good crowd of spectators also enjoyed the event and there were lots of rodeo burgers and corn on the cob to go around.  Below are  few photos.  Grizzly