Orca Breach Party....

On November 3rd I happened to see an Orca breach over by Bush Pt. on my webcam.  It was too far away to see with the naked eye.  So I pointed my cam at it and found there were several Orcas moving north together.  They were very active.  I followed them until they were about 10-12 miles away.  They were so active and the splashes were so big they were still visible at that distance.  I captured some video of them during these travels.  This is probably 8-10 miles out, but it was still quite a show.  These were Southern Resident Killer Whales.  This group has been referred to as a "Super Pod".  I called this video a "Breach Party....

Aurora Event - September 30, 2025

This week, the clouds parted just enough to give us a nice view of this beautiful event.

This is a time lapse showing the event in detail....

Pod of Orcas Passing Useless Bay

This morning (June 16, 2025) a large pod of Orcas went by off Useless Bay.  

This is a video captured from approximately 6 miles away.

A VERY Bright Fireball

On Saturday morning (3/22/25) at 3:49am there was an incredible fireball to our north.  It just happened to be centered on my night cam and created a beautiful image complete with a reflection on the water and visible through the clouds.  My cams have captured a lot of fireballs, but I believe this is the brightest.

 I like to put these images into a video for a little closer look.....

I thought I would do a follow up with some details that we know about this fireball.  It was reported by 7 observers as far away as Benton City to American Meteor Society https://www.amsmeteors.org/.  It's path seemed to be just south and west of Kamloops BC.  The more reports available make it easier for them to triangulate the exact path.....  So, if you see a fireball, take a moment to report it.

So....  What is a fireball?  Simply put, it is a very bright meteor.  There is a scale that is used to measure brightness of objects in the sky.  It is called the stellar magnitude.  The smaller the number the brighter the object.  A "fireball" is defined as any meteor that is as bright or brighter than Venus.... or about -4 magnitude.  A full moon is around -12 and I classified this as -14.  Robert Lunsford of American Meteor Society is a good friend of mine.  He processes the fireball reports that come into AMS.  I verify some of my magnitude classifications with him as I am no expert.  His response was that this fireball was at least a -14 or brighter.

For more information, here is a good link: https://www.amsmeteors.org/fireballs/faqf/

  

 

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Thank You To All Of Our

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It’s time to share a special thank you and shout out to the businesses that advertise on SkunkBayWeather.  We just picked up a new sponsor, so we have all 5 tiles filled now.  Their support means so much and it is critical to keep the site going with a steady revenue stream.  They have all committed to a full year subscription.  Thank you so much!

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Land Slide (12/27/24) and Aurora Show (1/4/25)

A couple of significant events recently.  There was a fair sized slide at Foulweather Bluff on December 27th.  My cams were lucky enough to capture it.....

 

Then on the evening of 1/3 - 1/4 we had a decent Aurora show.

Here is a time lapse of this event.