February 20, 2014

    American skier dies in an avalanche in Switzerland; story in articles below.

    Anticipation, park and latte!!

    Nice breaks, first light Wednesday morning.

    The skiing has been phenomenal.

    Size 2 yesterday out of S Turn, Xh (Helicopter Deployment) , one of the only results (1.5 meter Rib).

Weather observations for February 20, 2014; taken at 06:00 Hrs.

2240 meters     -9.5, Winds were 35-55 KPH from the SW
2180 meters     -8.0  Winds were 50-75 KPH from the S
1860 meters     -8.5, Winds were 25-50 KPH from the SW
1835 meters     -7.5, Winds were 20-50 KPH from the S      
1650 meters     -5.5, 10 cm of new snow, Base 232 cm
1550 meters     -4.5, 7 cm of new snow, Base 179 cm
  660 meters        -1, Valley Temp, trace of precip yesterday


For the forecast the slow moving cold front has brought us some snow with moderate winds. Post frontal westerly flow will bring light snow showers for today with unsettled conditions, sunny periods can also be expected. Northwest flow will dry the air mass out tonight into Friday, still fairly strong winds for tomorrow morning with unsettled conditions. A trough should move in for Saturday evening with some more snow for our area. The models are showing a lot of uncertainty for Saturday and Sunday. Canadian and European models are calling for some snow. Next week has the upper ridge building for Monday into Wednesday. More on the weekend forecast tomorrow. Guesstimates: 1-2 cm for today, Trace-1 cm for Friday, No new for Saturday morning, 5-8 cm for Sunday morning, 5-8 cm by Monday morning. Next week looks to start off sunny Freezing levels rising with the solar energy by Tuesday.

Numerous natural and controlled size 2-3 avalanches noted in the Duffy area.

    Still enough clouds around for some convective flurries.

    Next frontal band on its way, looks like we will get another nice snowfall before ridging this Friday.

High pressure pushing on the Alutian Low. MM5, 700 mb forecast run for Friday.


Size 2 Roof Avalanche: Northwest Indiana

High Avalanche Risk shuts down B.C. Highways: Alberta News

Rogers Pass North Guidebook: Wild Snow

Buried Alive; What it is like to be rescued from an avalanche: ABC News

American Skier latest Valais Avalanche Victim: Switzerland

Extremely Large Avalanche near Fernie: CAC Forecasters Blog

Hi Wayne,  skied a few fresh laps at Manning Park today and noticed this natural avi on the upper slope across hwy 3 from Gibson Pass Road.  Couldn't see the run out.  Slope is SW facing and the sun was out pretty strong.  Love the blog!  Glenn Peck

    Disappearing Act!!

    Afternoon Flurries!! February 19, 2014.

    First lift out of Glacier express Wednesday morning.

    Snow guns have set idle for a while.

    Windy yesterday morning.

    Blue bird for a while Wednesday morning!!

                                                                   Hiking up the Chimney.

                                          Could use a nice wet dump to fix a few areas!

    Deep enough for some fun!