Strong winds and heavy rain are expected most of Christmas Day, raising possibility of power outages as people prepare their holiday meals. (File photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Alex Rawnsley

christmas cook

‘Wise to have a backup plan:’ meteorologists tracking strong Christmas Day storm for Nanaimo

Dec 23, 2024 | 9:39 AM

NANAIMO — While skies look relatively clear for Santa’s trip through the mid-Island, forecasters are calling for a wet and windy Christmas Day.

A strong storm is brewing southwest of Vancouver Island and is forecast to hit the region with powerful winds and a considerable amount of rain on Wednesday, Dec. 25.

Environment Canada meteorologist Chris Doyle told NanaimoNewsNOW a first round of strong winds will come Monday, Dec. 23 but be mainly focused on B.C.’s central and north coast, before the second storm moves in Wednesday.

“We can expect stronger winds developing Wednesday morning and spreading across Vancouver Island and affecting primarily both the east and west coasts of Vancouver Island on Christmas Day, and along with that we’re looking at some pretty heavy rain too.”

Gusts upwards of 90 kilometres per hour are expected, mainly along coastal areas, in Nanaimo and Oceanside.

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Between 30 and 50 millimetres of rain will accompany the winds.

Those inland will see some very breezy conditions, with wind gusts expected to reach 50 or 60 kilometres per hour.

Doyle said the wind speeds do mean the chance for power outages to hit, right as many are preparing their Christmas meal.

“It would be wise to have a backup plan. Perhaps adjust your timing, so if you were thinking of putting in your turkey at 9 a.m., maybe back that up a few hours and get it in at 6 a.m. and think about eating a little bit earlier because the strongest winds arrive in the afternoon.”

Doyle added this storm is not expected to be anywhere near as strong as the bomb cyclone event in mid-November, which caused outages for tens of thousands of homes on Vancouver Island, some lasting for multiple days.

Environment Canada issued a special weather statement on Monday morning, for parts of eastern Vancouver Island.

It said in addition to strong winds forecast for Monday evening and Christmas Day, a third system will continue the windy conditions into Boxing Day as well.

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