In anticipation of a potential bomb cyclone off the coast of Vancouver Island on Tuesday night, BC Ferries is cancelling several sailings scheduled for the evening hours as winds are expected to pick up significantly, according to the weather forecast.
Evening sailings between Tsawwassen and Duke Point and Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay have been cancelled, with the last sailing of the night leaving at 5:45 pm or 5:00 pm.
BC Ferries cancellations on the Vancouver (Tsawwassen) to Victoria (Swartz Bay) route for November 19, 2024. (bcferries)
The cancellations include those along the Horseshoe Bay/West Vancouver to Langdale/Sunshine Coast and the Horseshoe Bay to Departure Bay/Nanaimo.
As of noon Tuesday, the 6:35 pm and 10:10 pm sailings to Nanaimo from Horseshoe Bay have been cancelled, but the other sailings earlier along those routes appear to be going ahead.
BC Ferries shared that it is actively following the “rapidly intensifying storm,” and the “adverse weather conditions” may impact travel for two days.
According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, depending on where in the region you are, the wind might be downright dangerous, especially for those on or near the water.
“For Metro Vancouver, we’ll probably see the wind sort of increasing the sort of 50 [km per hour], gusting to 70 out of the east, so really, coming out of the Fraser Valley and coming out of Burrard Inlet. We’ll also probably see stronger winds, maybe 60 to 90 through Howe Sound out of the Northeast, coming down from Squamish,” ECCC meteorologist Brian Proctor said.
A warning is in place for most of Vancouver Island, and a statement is in place for Metro Vancouver.
ECCC
“There’s going to be areas that favour stronger winds… Tsawwassen might see some of the stronger winds of the Metro Vancouver area, but in general terms, we’re going to be generally easterly for most of those areas, and probably sort of that 50 to 70 kind of range.”
If you can pivot and travel Wednesday instead, he says the winds should die down after rush hour.
“By the time we get to the afternoon, things will be quite diminished significantly, I should think.”
However, there is an expected storm surge along the water Wednesday around noon, potentially leading to soggy roads and ongoing traffic impacts.
For the latest on BC Ferries and cancellations, head to their website.
Are you impacted by the storm? If so, email [email protected] so we can include you in our story.
With files from Amir Ali