Call it whatever you like but please don’t call it a ‘perfect storm’. That one has been so done

It is quaintly called a ‘Pineapple Express’ and the expression stems from the fact that our current weather system(s) originate in the tropical region of the North Pacific near the Hawaiian Islands.

But, if you are thinking balmy, coconut palm punctuated beaches, beautiful plumeria blossoms and bevies of bitsy bikinied beauties, then think again. Those elements are the good Hawaii. What we have been experiencing for the past few days on Vancouver Island and coastal BC is the bad Hawaii. The Hawaii of typhoons and ceaseless antediluvian rains reminiscent of the flood of yore, except it has been doing its flooding now. Bitty bikinis are replaced by yellow wellies and rain slickers.

The Hawaiian aspect we have been experiencing, however, is balminess. We have had temps as high as 17, which is in the mid-60s in old money. We went to that in less than a week from temps in minus realms and frozen duck ponds.

The worst part of the express has been the aforementioned rain. And in that I am grateful that we live on higher ground here in Comox. The lower areas are not so fortunate and a hell of a lot of our pretty place is underwater. You see, along with the PE, we have also had inordinately high solstice tides and also because it has been raining so hard the rivers are well past overflowing their banks. A brutal combination and yet I absolutely refuse to refer to it as a ‘Perfect Storm.’ Sorry, but overused is overused and that one has been rendered as tiresome as ‘selfie’ and ‘polar vortex’. Perfect storm it may be, but you won’t hear it from me. Anyway, the movie was vastly overrated and hyperbolic. The book was much more chilling.

So, anyway that is where we are right now weatherwise and if you are facing ‘polar vorteces’ and 18 feet of snow. I don’t care.