15 Mar 2013

Another grey day with a mixed bag of weather, at least the Freezing level came down slightly near the end of the day.!

It may have been raining at the lower elevations but in the Alpine the snow is getting deeper.

Drifting snow in behind the Ski Patrol Hut top of 7 Th Heaven on Blackcomb.



At 2240 meters the temperature was -5, winds were 15-30 KPH from the NNE. At 1650 meters the temperature was -1, 6 cm of new snow fell there overnight. In the valley it was +2. Observations taken at 06:00 Hrs.

For the forecast we can still expect an impulse of moist weather for today as the westerly flow continues. This will change for Saturday as an upper level trough moves into our zone, giving us a cool air mass, which will be welcome. A cool north westerly flow aloft can be expected for the week end into Monday/Tuesday with possible clearing by Wednesday or Thursday.  There is low confidence in the models for next week but it looks like a front will be here for Monday. The ECMWF, GFS, and Canadian models are all different, so Monday and Tuesday are Guesses.  Guesstimates: Friday 1-3 cm Saturday 6-10 cm, Sunday 5-6 cm, Monday 10-15 cm ?, Tuesday 4-6 cm ?.


For the local updated Avalanche Advisory: Whistler Mountain Snow Safety


B.C. Avalanche victims mostly male snowmobilers, skiers says coroner: Vancouver Sun

Avoid Back Country warns B.C. Minister unless fully prepared: Pique Magazine

Colorado Avalanche Information Centre uses this visual representation: The Danger Rose

Vail adjusting its gate policy following last season's in-bounds avalanche fatality: Denver Post

ABS Vario 40, Airbag Pack Review: Wild Snow



Here are some shots from Sam Yeaman:

Hey Wayne,

Your blog is a great source of info, thanks for keeping it updated so regularly!

Here are some shots from last weekend of a big slide that ripped off the North face of Duke in the Caspar drainage the previous week during the big dump. I didn't get the best pictures of the slide area, but feel free to post them if you want. We didn't get anything moving up there, but did observe some shooting cracks on wind affected surfaces on west-facing slopes near the summit ridge of Duke (which prompted us to turn back and stay low).

Cheers!
Sam





There are several variations of crusts, moist snow and dry snow concerns. This was a thin breakable melt freeze crust with some fresh snow on top. Below the crust was 10 cm of moist snow over some dry snow.


Moist slab with some fresh stellar's on top of 8-10 cm of wet snow directly underneath a firm wind skin.



Whistler had Harmony opened yesterday as well as the day before. Blackcomb got to the top of the Crystal Chair open.

It started to snow again yesterday as we left the alpine for sweep.