Cold Front moves across Vancouver Island
A cold front moved across South Vancouver Island on 3 March 2011. The grey area on the plots shows the approximate time of the event. The temperature fell by approximately 6°C during the passage of the front. The pressure plot shows that the front was superimposed on a general trend of rising pressure. The pressure fell before and during the front, then rose to former levels after the front. The wind speed plot is the most complicated but if you look carefully you can see that there was a burst of wind accompanying the front. Sites in the legend on each plot are listed from west (at the top, Port Renfrew), to east (at the bottom, UVicSci).
Temperature at several sites on south Vancouver Island.
Barometric pressure at several sites on south Vancouver Island. The pressures were lined
up at the start by subtracting from each site's time series the difference
between that site's pressure and the pressure at UVicSci. This does not affect
the changes in pressure in a particular series but lines them all up on the vertical
axis a little more precisely. The important feature to note is the staggered
position of the cold front as it moved across the south island from west to east.
Wind speed at several sites on south Vancouver Island. There was a burst of wind
of varying strength during the passage of the front at most sites shown here.
Wind direction at several sites on south Vancouver Island. The wind direction changed
significantly during the passage of the front at most of the sites. Before the front the wind was blowing
from the south east quadrant and after the front passed it was south west to west.
