February 5, 2015

    Golden SAR uses Class D to extract injured from Avalanche near Ski Resort.          Story Below

    Early Wednesday morning, February 4, 2015. Some blue for a while!!

    Clouds were forming to the South.

    By noon it was fairly cloudy.

    Blackcomb Mountain Wednesday afternoon.

    Whistler Mountain Wednesday afternoon.

    Grey and moist by days end.


Weather Observations for February 5, 2015; taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters        -2, Winds were 60-90 KPH from the SE
2180 meters        -2, Winds were 50-70 KPH from the SE
1860 meters        -1, Winds were 20-50 KPH from the ESE
1835 meters     -0.5, Winds were 25-50 KPH from the ESE
1650 meters         0, 13 cm of new new snow, Base 147 cm
1550 meters         0, 10 cm of new new snow, Base 121 cm,  Relative Humidity 100%.

  660 meters         0, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was +4, 0.2 mm recorded before midnight. .

   As of 07:00 Hrs we have obscured skies, limited visibility and wet snow is falling at 2 cm+ per hour.



For the Forecast, a strong warm moist sub-tropical air mass is moving into our area this morning in a Southwest flow aloft. There may be a break this afternoon before the brunt of the front arrives.  Wind and heavy precipitation will begin later today as a series of vigorous short wave troughs affect our zone into Monday. Freezing levels will begin to rise this morning, maxing out at 2000 meters by this evening and fluctuating by a couple of hundred meters into Saturday when cooler air will lower the FL to around 1600 meters. Sunday will see the FL rise to 1800 meters. The brunt of the precipitation appears to fall on Friday and Saturday night. Guesstimates: 8-10 cm by this afternoon, 20-25 cm above 1800 meters by Friday morning, 30-40 cm above 1800 meters by Saturday morning, 20-25 cm above 1600 meters by Sunday morning. We could receive up to 140 mm of rain in the valley by Saturday morning. More to follow!!

    Present flow, should get a break this afternoon before the deluge this evening.

    Todays picture.

    Saturday Morning

    Sunday.

     High reestablishes itself for Tuesday.


ARTICLES:

Update on Avalanche outside Kicking Horse Boundary: Golden, B.C.

Swiss Avalanches claim 248 lives over 10 years: WSL Statistics

Risky Slopes--Evaluating the Link between Snowfall and Avalanches: My Science

Creating an Avalanche: Valle de la Sionne, Switzerland

North Face Airbag system: Pistehors.com

Over-snow vehicle rule seeks Backcountry Balance: U.S. Forest Service

Evidence from warm past confirms recent IPCC estimates of climate sensitivity: Science Daily

    Blackcomb Peak on a cloudy afternoon.

    Sea King flying over Whistler late Wednesday Aft. It was precipitating at 14:30 hours at1550 M.

    Early in the morning.

    Just 3 hours later.