Surf at Port Maitland


Dorian
As many will know, Nova Scotia got hit by hurricane Dorian this last week. The storm had winds that were Tropical Storm strength in most areas, and the storm was so large that it covered much of the Province, and actually many other parts of the Maritimes. Though not as devastating here as in the Bahamas, and not as bad as some had forecast (apocalytic weather forecasts abounding on the internet, while Environment Canada, and other professional forecast venues like the Weather Network and the Weather Channel, told us what the actual story would be…), the storm still packed a whallop. We lost power for a couple of days, and many in NS were without power or telecommunications for almost the entire week.
During a lull in the storm I went down to the shore to get some images, and the waves were breaking nicely. Always cautious, this image was taken with a 300mm long lens, so I was a good distance back from any actual surf – but even so, the spray on my lens was an issue I had to deal with – and is the reason I always have a UV filter on my lenses, all of them, as salt spray can do a number on glass!
We’ve seen an increase in the number of big storms recently. It used to be rare that we’d get 2 inches of rain in one 24 hour period, now we get that kind of storm about once every other month. We’re used to winds, too, but sustained winds in the 90 kph range is also something that seems to be occurring more often as well. We lost telecommunications during Dorian and for at least 48 hours after – and that meant both cell and landline phones were down as well as the Internet. It’s concerning, and the direct result of climate change.
We’re now in an election in Canada, the vote in late October. It would serve all Canadians well to remember the actual cause of the increase in storm intensities, and vote with an eye to the environment and political parties that have actual plans to do something about climate change. We owe it to our children and grand-children.