April 5, 2014

    Sucker hole first thing yesterday morning.

                             The new snow skied well.

    Stratus nimbus in the morning.

    Snowed hard at times during the day, May 4, 2014.

    Visibility was challenging at times.

    Break near the end of the day 16:30 hrs.


Weather observations for May 5, 2014; taken at 06:00 Hrs.

2240 meters      -8, Winds were 5-10 KPH from the S
2180 meters      -7, Winds were 20-25 KPH from the S
1860 meters      -7, Winds were 15-20 KPH from the ESE
1835 meters      -6, Winds were 15-20 KPH from the S
1650 meters      -3, Trace of new snow, 2 cm in 24 hours, Base 278 cm
1550 meters      -3, Trace of new snow, 1 cm in 24 hours, Base 218 cm
  660 meters     +1, Valley Temperature, .8 mm of precipitation yesterday, Max temp +8

For the forecast a weak front in a westerly flow will arrive later this morning with light precipitation into this evening. For this morning we can expect unsettled conditions prior to the front arriving. Sunday looks unsettled in the morning with clouds developing in the afternoon and light precipitation Sunday evening. Monday is looking like a fairly warm cloudy day with light precipitation in the morning becoming moderate later in the day with freezing levels going to 2000 meters. Forecast has changed and there is way less rain coming that day, 15-18 mm by Tuesday morning.  Tuesday cools off  with freezing levels in the morning around 1700 meters slowly dropping to 1000 meters by the evening. Guesstimates: 2-5 cm by Sunday morning, trace to 2 cm by Monday morning, 10-20 cm above 2000 meters on Tuesday, 8-10 cm by Wednesday morning.

As of 07:00 hrs in the alpine we have overcast skies and unlimited visibility.

Avalanche activity in the corridor yesterday was minimal with some size 1-1.5 soft slabs released with ski cuts and explosives. Small Na loose slides on solar aspects. Sluffing on north facing slopes in the Northern reaches of the corridor.

   A few breaks in the morning, lots of pop corn clouds.

    Lots of moisture in the Pacific. Satellite image from yesterday at 11:45.


New risk factors for avalanche trigger revealed: Queen Mary University of London

2014 Volkl World Rookie Finals: Day 1 of Qualifications

Conditions Outlook: April 4-11, 2014: CAC Forecasters Blog

Fresh insights into snow metamorphism: Swiss Avalanche Institute

CAA & CAC Spring Conference and Meetings; May 5-8, 2014: Penticton, B.C.

    A mixture of stellars and graupel from convection yesterday.

    The sum came out for a short period of time and solar aspects became moist .

    Breaks in the afternoon, but for the most part it was obscured in the alpine.

    There was some good skiing to be had if you could see where you were going!