VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

Calling for Action
So it was noted a few weeks back that the Environment Canada pressure slope page was getting canceled soon. Many of you will have seen this little blurb on the page:

As of July 20th, the Pressure Slope Pattern website will no longer be available and is subject to review.

I sent in a request to find out what could be done to keep it and this is what I got back:

Hello Saul,

Thank you for sending your message to Environment Canada. The pressure slope map was part of the Pacific and Yukon Regional Website and not a national product nor part of the national suite of services. We are looking at trying to have this product on national marine site however it was not on the priority list of projects for this year. We would be certainly be interested in some feedback users like you as to your needs, uses and requirements for this product. The way it seems to work these days is if there is a demand or enough feedback of the use of a product, then we can investigate to see if we can accommodate such a request.

Best regards,

Bernard Duguay
Meteorological Inquiry Specialist
MSC National Inquiry Response Team ISO 9001:2008
Environment Canada

Looks like its time to politely barrage 'em with requests. The more people who send one in, the more likely we will get to keep it. I clicked on the contact us like at the top of their page and sent in my request. You might also try contacting Bernard directly or the folks that manage the Yukon/Pacific pages (don't know who they would be).

For those of you who haven't used the pressure slope page, it can often explain what is going on when you look out the window to find weird weather and is a key indicator for some of our favourite wind sport spots. It is also a key concept in two books written on weather in the Georgia Basin: Living With Weather along the British Columbia Coast and The Wind Came All Ways.

S.

Do you have Bernards email address, If so could you post it?
Thansk,
T

I am guessing that this is it


but I'm not certain of this or his roll there. If anyone can confirm this or provide a better point of contact please post it.

Here is the latest response fronm enviro Canada:

Hello Saul,

You can send a message to Mr. Jim Steele at explaining why the pressure slope map is important to you.

Bernard

EC asked us for feedback about the Pressure Slope page a few years back. Some responded, but most didn't, so it's not surprising that they think that it's not important. If you didn't speak up then when they were asking for feedback then don't be surprised that it's not being continued.

http://www.bigwavedave.ca/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2967

As far as I know, the slope is based on the pressure readings from a large number of weather stations.

Thanks for reminding us Dave.

So this is it. They asked us once before and we didn't come through in a bigwavedave way. We have a second chance here folks. -and the last chance. Let 'em know we appreciate p-slope and the work they do and send environment canada an email directly. There will unlikely be a third chance after this.

For those who haven't used the p-slope, maybe someone with better weather knowledge can give us a reminder on the ways it comes in handy? JL?

Seeing as I sail Pipers and Nitinaht mostly, it comes in handy for me. Proper pressure slope is key for Nitinaht and in Nanaimo we seem to end up at the conversion of p-slopes and this will indicate unsettled, shifty and lousy wind patterns here.

Jim Steele's reply to my e-mail inquiry:

The plan is still to offer this service on the national Weatheroffice site (marine section), but there will be an interruption of the service for a period of time as we transition things over. The Pressure Slope is on the list of marine priority changes for Weatheroffice, but there are a few final touches that need to be done before we submit the work instructions to the developers at Weatheroffice. The graphics are in the process of being translated into French and Weatheroffice has requested that some text be developed to help new users to interpret the graphics (i.e. explain the significance, if any, of the differing lengths of the arrows, explain the meaning of the intensity value, etc.).

That all being said, I would think that we would have this back on-line hopefully by the Fall.

Thanks Gord. That is great news!!!

Thanks very much for emailing Jim and posting his response. I'm suprised I didn't get any response yet. I'll have to double check my sentmail.

I feel that Env. Canada would be negligent if they removed the slope data from the internet . This information is integral to monitoring both the current weather & tendency . example: The 'discussion' used by NOAA forecasters today said to 'keep an eye on Race rocks' ... I use the pressure slope to analyze the changing wind direction & strength as per 'The wind came all ways' ... The page http://www.weatheroffice.pyr.ec.gc.ca/m ... ope_e.html is also a great introduction to would be forecasters looking for more information, including purchasing books & cd's from env. Canada ...In addition I use the data @ work driving ferry boats around !!! P.S. As to the change in areas of responsibility in providing the data: Spare us the internal politics & keep the data displayed !!!

Hello,

Thank-you for sending your message to Environment Canada. The pressure slope page is temporarily unavailable. It is being moved from one computer system to another to improve reliability. It is expected to return later this year once the work is completed. It will be available on Environment Canada's national weatheroffice site (www.weatheroffice.gc.ca) in the marine section.

Your patience is appreciated during this transition period.

Best regards,

MSC National Inquiry Response Team ISO 9001:2008

Environment Canada

When I asked about the pressure slope (others may have done this already, but I couldn't find anything on the forum):

Hello Jordan,

Thank you for sending your message to Environment Canada. The plan is to offer the Georgia Basin pressure slope map on our national Weatheroffice site (marine section), but there will be an interruption of the service for a period of time as we transition things over. The Pressure Slope is on the list of marine priority changes for Weatheroffice, but there are a few final touches that need to be done before we submit the work instructions to the developers at Weatheroffice. The graphics are in the process of being translated into French and Weatheroffice has requested that some text be developed to help new users to interpret the graphics (i.e. explain the significance, if any, of the differing lengths of the arrows, explain the meaning of the intensity value, etc).
All that being said, we expect to have this product back on-line later this fall.

Best regards,

Bernard Duguay
Meteorological Inquiry Specialist
MSC National Inquiry Response Team ISO 9001:2008
Environment Canada

When can we expect pressure slope data to be available for the West coast marine f-cast ? Hello Jim,

Thank you for sending your request to Environment Canada.
The plan is to offer the Georgia Basin pressure slope map on our national Weatheroffice site (marine section), but there will be an interruption of the service for a period of time as we transition things over. The Pressure Slope is on the list of marine priority changes for Weatheroffice, but there are a few final touches that need to be done before we submit the work instructions to the developers at Weatheroffice. The graphics are in the process of being translated into French and Weatheroffice has requested that some text be developed to help new users to interpret the graphics (i.e. explain the significance, if any, of the differing lengths of the arrows, explain the meaning of the intensity value, etc).
All that being said, we expect to have this product back on-line later this fall.

Best regards,

Luc Lamontagne

Spécialiste en renseignements météorologiques - Équipe nationale de réponses aux demandes du public (ENRDP) ISO 9001:2008

Meteorological Inquiry Specialist - National Inquiry Response Team (NIRT) ISO 9001:2008

Environnement Canada/Environment Canada

consistency is everything with EC, eh