Wayne Flann Avalanche Blog: February 10, 2015

Avalanche yesterday in Val D'Isere claims 26 Th victim: Story Below. Internet File Pic

Avalanche at Ochsehorn, Switzerland claims 47 YO backcountry skier, story below. Net Pic

Avalanche in Col de Chaude Maison has brought the total to 25 Avalanche deaths in France!

Avalanche in Val Thornes, France claims a resort employee, Feb 5, 2015: Story below. Net Pic

Just after sunrise Monday February 9, 2015. Overcast and 0 Degrees as of 07:45 Hours.

Another grey moist morning, February 9, 2015.

Great day if your a duck in Green Lake.

Visibility in the alpine continued to deteriorate by 11:00 Hours.

By 13:30 wet snow at 1835 meters with a temperature of +1 and winds at 0-10 SE.

By 16:30, light rain, obscured, + 0.5, calm winds.

Weather Observations for February 10, 2015; taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters -2, Winds were 15-25 KPH from the S
2180 meters -1, Winds were 20-25 KPH from the SSW
1860 meters -1, Winds were 5-15 KPH from the SSE
1835 meters 0, Winds were 5-15 KPH from the SW
1650 meters +1, 2 cm of new new snow, Base 156 cm
1550 meters +1, Trace of new new snow, Base 114 cm, Relative Humidity 100%.

660 meters +3, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was +6.0, 5.4 mm recorded before midnight.

As of 07:00 Hours we have overcast skies and unlimited visibility at 1835 meters.

For the Forecast, an upper level trough moved through last night with light intermittent precipitation in a Westerly Flow aloft. Mostly cloudy today with lots of lingering cloud and the chance of some light rain showers with a FL of around 1800 meters. We may see some broken cloud this morning, with mostly cloudy conditions this afternoon, then unsettled this evening as an upper level high begins to build for Wednesday. A dry warm air mass with FL of around 2200 meters will bring unsettled conditions for Wednesday. A very weak front will move in for Wednesday evening, early Thursday morning with light precipitation and rising freezing levels. Unsettled conditions with a very warm air mass will dominate the pattern for the rest of the week. FL could reach 3000 meters by Thursday evening. Colder air from the North should have some influence by the weekend, lowering the FL to 1500 meters by Sunday. Guesstimates: trace - 2 cm by Thursday morning above 1700 meters. Very light intermittent rain showers for Thursday and Saturday.

Satellite image from 10:00 Hrs on Monday morning.

Image looking Southwest at 10:00 Hours Monday morning.

Big picture from the same time frame.

Still some moisture around and fairly cloudy for today.

Unsettled for Wednesday with some lingering cloud.

Weak front moving in for Wednesday evening into early Thursday morning.

ARTICLES:

Avalanche claims the life of a skier in Val D'Isere: Tignes, France

Twenty First avalanche fatality in Switzerland: Latest Avalanche accident in Swiss Alps

Avalanche situation is "explosive" warns rescue boss (25 Fatalities this season): France

Update on one of the recent avalanche fatalities in Italy: Traumatic Injury

A more recent article on the avalanches over the weekend in Italy taking 4 lives: Local news in English

An open letter to Mother Nature: Grouse Mountain

More Avalanche information from France, missed this one (Mountain employee): Pistehors.com

When High marking goes wrong, Afton Wyoming, February 6, 2015: Good Response

Deteriorating visibility on Monday morning, January 8, 2015.

By 14:00 Hours at 2240 meters it was snowing but 0 Deg. Web cam began to melt its shroud of ice.

Satellite image from 14:00 Hours notice the difference in cloud cover compared to image earlier.

Hi Wango,

I went for a wander in the white yesterday and found quite good ski conditions. The surface snow is not dry, but skis well. I was pleasantly surprised!

We travelled in the spearhead/phalanx area primarily between 1900m and 2400m with obscured skies, light winds, light snowfall, and temperatures hovering around or just below 0°.

There is about a 100-130cm of storm snow sitting in the crust in the high alpine, which is slightly upside down felt with a ski pole, but supports the weight of a skier. Snowpack depths on the glaciers were over 320cm, ski penetration is 10-20 cm and boot penetration is 60 cm. In some exposed areas the snow has been scoured by wind almost to the crust.

We saw no natural avalanches, but saw snowballing out of steeper terrain.

The storm snow appears to be bonding and settling well with primary concerns being cornice exposure and heavy sluff in steeper terrain.

Cheers

Jeff Van Driel

Thanks for the information and these 4 images.