Wayne Flann Avalanche Blog: December 12, 2014

Great light early Thursday morning, snow stuck to everything from the storm early in the am!!

Snow line came down to 1300 meters early yesterday morning, December 10, 2014.

Avalanche control yesterday produced some size 1 slides, and size 2.5 Na were observed.

Boomer Bowl, Whistler-Size 2.5 facets on crust water lubed. Braden Douglas Photo

1 meter Fracture Line. Braden Douglas Photo

Weather observations for December 12, 2014, taken at 06:00 Hours this am.

2240 meters -5, Winds were 65-95 KPH from the SSE
2180 meters -4, Winds were 50-75 KPH Direction?
1860 meters -3, Winds were 40-75 KPH from the ESE
1835 meters -2, Winds were 20-60 KPH from the SSE
1650 meters -0.5, 24 cm of new snow, 32 cm in 24 hours, Base 106 cm
1550 meters 0, 25 cm of new snow, Base 72 cm, Relative Humidity 99%

660 meters +4, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yest +5.3, 10.5 of Precip recorded before midnight

Maximum wind last night at 2240 meters was 125KPH. Minimum temperature was -2.5.

As of 06:45 we have obscured skies and limited visibility. Bring your pow skis!!

For the forecast, the strong low pressure system originating from the South was nice enough to give us 25 cm of new snow overnight above 1400 meters. An upper trough will develop today for cloudy conditions with some flurries possible in the morning. Winds are abating at this time. Freezing levels will slowly decline as the day progresses, bottoming out at around 1000 meters. High pressure will build over the weekend with drier conditions in a benign pattern.. Saturday looks unsettled with a FL around 1000 meters. Sunday is looking sunny with slightly cooler temperatures bringing the FL from 1000 meters to 800 meters by days end. A split flow is expected next week, but there is no confidence from the models to what will happen. More on that as we get closer. Some models have a weak system approaching Thursday.

Satellite image at 13:00 Hours on Thursday. Snowing 2.5 cm per hour at 1870 meters.

The big picture yesterday around 13:00 hours.

Moisture from last night's front is heading Northeast. Did not think it would be that intense Yest.

Upper trough developing in the lows wake. Cloudy conditions for today.

Looking like a nice day for Saturday! Unsettled.

Video Fridays:

Avalanche Rescue Simulation: Kicking Horse Resort

Best Avalanche Awareness video for Sledders: Knowledge is Power

Ambulance Drone: Flying AED

Flying Harley: What next!!

Guy Slips on base Jump Launch: Head Down

Line of the Year: Cody Townsend

ARTICLES:

Crystal Mountain first to adopt Diesel Electric Cat: Ski Area Management

Powerful Storm closing mountain passes in California: Avalanche Concerns

Red Bull's Cold Rush, February 3-6, 2014: Revelstoke

Some Guidelines to decide if a line is safe to ski in the Backcountry: Teton Gravity

Some observations from Jason M.
Today we went up Blackcomb to Lakeside Bowl and did a bunch of profiles just below the lake around 1900m, I have attached the profile from there. That spot was not in a wind loaded area so doesn't represent the WSL that continues to build. There were no popping results but the one that stays in the back of my head is the crust down 58cm that was getting hard SP results but no full block propagation on the ECT. Overall it was a moist pack with lots of crusts.
While on site it was snowing S1 and up to S4 at times and winds were moderate with variable direction, seemed to be settling into a SE.
As far as avi obs, there were some slabs out below Blackcomb peak running to the edge of the lake, ranging probably from 12-36hrs. The other one of interest was seen across the valley at the lookers right side of Boomer bowl, estimated from a far as a Sz2 Na 50deep and in the past 12hrs as it seemed still pretty crisp from all the way across the valley.
Otherwise the only other note we had today was that lots of the slabs from the first cycle seem to have filled back in and could be ready to play again.

Cheers,
Jason