12 Feb 2013



Upload yesterday took us right through a moist, thick stratus cloud layer. At times at the base of it there would be some light precipitation in the form of needles, long thin snow crystals.

 Snowing at the base of the cloud layer up to .25 cm per hour.

It made for some great bubble art.




At 2284 meters the temperature was -8, winds were 20-40 KPH from the SSE. At 1650 meters the temperature was -3, trace of new snow was recorded there. In the valley it was +1. Observations taken at 06:00 Hrs.

For the forecast, the dirty ridge will continue to allow weak fronts into our zone giving us unsettled conditions for the next couple of days. The flat upper ridge should give way to some clearing on Friday. We will continue to be in this warm air mass with little precipitation. The models are still conflicting but the QPFS, GFS, and Nam are slightly onboard compared to the ECMWF as far as precipitation amounts.  Expect more low level stratus clouds to prevail. I personally do not see a lot of precipitation coming our way. Looks like we may get 3-5 cm on Saturday. Hope I am wrong!!



For the updated local avalanche advisory:  Whistler Mountain Snow Safety


Avalanche in Nova Scotia prompts Maritimes Avalanche Alert: A Snow Slide "Maritime Terminology"

Weekend Avalanche Injury underscores skiers risks: Wasatch Mountains

New products in the market place (winter safety tools): SNEWS Outdoor

Kodak Courage: Are winter sports trends promoting a false sense of security: SNEWS

Skiers Survive Avalanche in Gallatin County: Montana

Skier Backflipping ahead of an Avalanche: Swatch Skiers Cup
Pretty Impressive



Some intel from Dary Hemmons:
Saw 3 Sa sz 1-2 SSL yesterday (Sunday) in Fitz Range, ( back-side Flute, Oboe rolls into Oboe/Flute basin and far skiers right Singing Pass Avo Chute).  All on obvious convex rolls, west , east and north   asp. 1700m -1900m  15-20 cm crown (no crown-line profiles).

There have been many days when the stratus clouds have been dominant in our area. Today my children were talking about clouds, I was explaining to them about stratus clouds and my son referred to what we were observing as a stratus sandwich. Which is what this photo looks like!

For the definition of stratus clouds, click here: Wikipedia

View to the South was much more broken than the one to the North.

Best consistent visibility was in 7 Th Heaven on Blackcomb yesterday.


Great to see Davies Dervish being used. I am sure that Gary would be happy!!



Some satellite images from mid day yesterday.



The visibility on Whistler was certainly variable.