February 7, 2015

    Canadian Forces Member swept away by an avalanche on Polar Circus, Story Below Net Pic

    10:30 Friday February 6, 2015. Raining lightly and +2.

    River of Golden Dreams in full flood.

    Green Lake Friday morning, debris in Fitzsimmons Creek.

    Valley Trail by Meadow Park.

    By 12:30 on Friday it was snowing at 1835, the temperature dropped to +1.5.

    River of Golden Dreams in full flood by Saturday afternoon.



Weather Observations for February 7, 2015; taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters        -2.5, Winds were 40-65 KPH from the SE
2180 meters           -1, Winds were 25-45 KPH from the S
1860 meters           -1, Winds were 25-45 KPH from the SE
1835 meters            0, Winds were 15-30 KPH from the SE
1650 meters          +1, 9 cm of new new snow, Base 152 cm
1550 meters          +1, 2 cm of new new snow, Base 113 cm,  Relative Humidity 99%.

  660 meters           +4, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was +7, 38.9 mm recorded before midnight.
                              FL dropped to 1800 meters last night by 20:00 Hrs. Max wind yesterday at 2240
                              meters was 115 KPH at 07:00 Hours.

    As of 07:00 Hours we have overcast skies, variable visibility and it is snowing lightly.


For the forecast, a series of fronts (short wave troughs) will continue to influence the pattern in our area until Monday evening. Moderate precipitation is expected early this morning as a trough moves through in a strong Southwesterly flow aloft, with Freezing levels around 1700 meters, possibly dropping to 1400 meters by this evening. There may be a lull in the precip this morning into this afternoon before heavy precip begins again this evening. Moderate to strong winds are forecasted for the alpine.  Moderate precip rates are expected Sunday morning, with another lull Sunday afternoon then light precip expected for Sunday evening. The FL should hover in the 1500 meter mark through this time period.  Monday will see very little precip with cloudy conditions as we finally begin to dry out from this wet period. An upper level ridge will begin to build for Tuesday with mostly cloudy conditions and strengthen for Wednesday into Thursday with unsettled conditions. The air mass will remain fairly warm with the FL possibly being as high as 2000 meters on Wednesday. More on that later. Guesstimates: 20-30 cm by Sunday morning above 1400 meters, 10-12 cm by Monday morning, Trace to 3 cm by Tuesday morning.

   Flow until Tuesday, high pressure builds for Tuesday.

    Moisture expected for today.

    Low will move down the coast on Sunday.

    Not a good year for Atmospheric Rivers, I believe this is the fourth this season.

    Cooling off slightly later today.

   Brunt of the precipitation is South, but we are seeing our fair share!! Should see a lull this afternoon.

ARTICLES:

Canadian Military Personal swept away by an avalanche near the Weeping Wall: Banff National Park

Ancient snow patches melting at record speed: Science Daily

American Avalanche Review--NSAW Update: Mountain Lessons

Red Card for imprudent Ski Instructors: Pistehors.com

Avalanche that came down 'Like Waves' narrowly misses taxi on Route 450: Newfoundland

Pow Snow-Skater outruns avalanche: Colorado Footage

   Blow out on YBR. Bottom of Blackcomb.
   

   Alta Lake on Friday morning while it was raining moderately.

    Fitzsimmons Creek Friday afternoon.

    A wet looking warm day!!

    By Days end it was +7 in the town centre. Squamish broke a record at +13.2!, on February 6, 2015!!

   Good to see the sign at Shames Mountain; Terrace, B.C. lots of Pow there!!         Ryan Bougie Photo

Saw the signs up at Shames today at a couple different backcountry gates.  Over 70cm of storm is making for some incredible conditions today and some happy skiers.  Sc Sz 1.5 on steep convex roll and heavy sluffing in the trees.