Early in the morning of February 9th, 2019, during a strong wind storm, a piece of BC Hydro equipment failed, resulting in a blinding flash that lit up the Stawamus Chief.
The winds peaked at over 60km/h at the nearby Squamish Airport, and the equipment failure caused a temporary power outage for almost 3,000 customers in Squamish, including the Valleycliffe area, part of which can be seen at the bottom of the webcam video. After the flash, almost all of the lights in Valleycliffe are out, and the reflected light on the Stawamus Chief is also significantly reduced.
The webcam's battery backup system allowed it to continue recording during the brief outage, but further prolonged outages later in the day eventually exhausted the batteries. The incomplete daily timelapse for February 9th, 2019 provides an overview of the day, and shows the strength of the storm, with the webcam visibly bouncing around as it's buffeted by the wind.
