The ridging certainly had its way with the front yesterday. During the day there was only 4 cm recorded at 1650 meters. Not exactly the amount I thought would fall. 12 cm in the past 24 hours. At the end of the post there are some pictures of the ridge and how it influenced the day.
At 2284 meters the temperature was -8, winds were 30-50 KPH from the S. Maximum wind there last night was 85 KPH from the S. At 1650 meters the temperature was -4, 7 cm of new snow was recorded there. In the valley it was +1. Observations taken at 06:00.
For the forecast, with the models the way they are and this ridge sitting off to the East of us its near impossible to make any guesstimates. There is an upper level trough off Vancouver Island which should direct a low pressure system to enter our area later today. We should see light snow develop this morning and ramp up to heavy snow by this evening. Some flurries could occur Thursday morning before the high pressure embeds itself in our zone. Taking another kick at the can, not sure what is happening east of us, but here are the guesstimates: 4-6 cm today, 12-16 cm tonight 1-3 tomorrow morning.
For the updated Avalanche Advisory: Blackcomb Snow Safety
Search for teen buried in an avalanche continues: Austria
Macro Photography of Snowflakes: Andrew Osokin
Human Triggered Avalanche , from the Avalanche Guys: Montana
Thought this was an interesting way to sell a book: Snow Sense
Two skiers involved in Val Thorens Avalanche: France
Skier dies in collision on Aspen Mountain: Colorado
At times yesterday it was difficult to negotiate the terrain with the blowing snow and poor visibility.
At one point in time the sun was quite strong.
By the end of the day it was looking favourable, snowing and blowing, but later in the evening the ridging took over and you could see stars amongst the clouds.
In this shot you can see the ridging just ENE of our area.
Its just on the edge of our area, but not allowing snow to fall as heavily as we would like.