We knew it was a rainy day coming up. Today, we saw the continuation of our season's first atmospheric river. These weather systems line up over the Pacific during winters and, like the end of a hose, dump tons of rain on our coast. October seems early but 90 to 150 mm of rain is expected in much of the area with totals of over 180 mm near the mountains and in localized regions.
So, today's rain wasn't an unexpected visitor. It was the final day of voting in the British Columbia Provincial Elections. We didn't vote early thinking it'd be easier to wait for the real day and walk to the closest polling station that is only a couple of blocks from our buildings. Yet, after seeing the rain on the balcony, we reckoned we might get less wet if we were to drive. Exactly for the time it took us, which was only a few minutes, the rain let up and the warm wind from the tropics lessened.
There were other errands to do. We'd made reservations to have our seasonal flu shots at a downtown New Westminster pharmacy. As we're over 65, we got invitations via the provincial health portal. Ordinarily we would've walked but the SkyTrain promised to offer shelter and we didn't need to go outdoors at all.
It took a few minutes longer than normal as the SkyTrain in the opposite direction was temporarily suspended. The wind was very strong and as caution, busses were taking people across the river. The SkyTrain bridge is very exposed to the winds coming up the Fraser River and pelting our city. We had to wait a short while to get to the platform but there was little delay. Jay was scheduled for 1:00 pm and mine was at 1:05. We were done by 1:06 but needed to stay in the store for ten minutes to ensure we had no adverse reaction.
So although the storm was quite strong, it didn't affect our day much. It has let up a bit but this won't be over until tomorrow or Monday.