December 18, 2015

    Snow Guns pumping out the man made early Thursday morning, December 17, 2015.

    Started snowing very lightly at 08:00 Hours. Only 2 cm recorded at 1550 meters by 14:00 Hours.

    Snow quality in the alpine was fairly nice if you are good at navigating variable visibility.

    A little hike for the Blackcomb Glacier entrance.

    Ice cave on Blackcomb Glacier, just a reminder that they are very unpredictable at collapsing.

    The ceiling is very suspect. In and out, or just stay out, when will the next quake occur?

    Very cool but very dangerous as well. Enter at your own risk!!

    Veins of pure blue.

    End of the day, the guns were still pumping it out.



Weather Observations for December 18, 2015: taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters     -6, Winds were 50-70 KPH S       --Horstman Hut Station
2180 meters     -7, Winds were 45-70 KPH S       --Whistler Peak
1860 meters     -6, Winds were 30-50 KPH SE     --Rendevous
1835 meters     -5, Winds were 25-65 KPH S       --Roundhouse
1650 meters     -3, 16 of new, 18 cm in 24 hours 175 cm Base, Relative Humidity 95%  --Pig Alley
1550 meters     -4, 21 cm of new, 140 cm Base    --Catskinner 

  660 meters     -4, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was -3.9. 0.6 mm of precipitation recorded.

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



For the forecast, the weak warm front arrived in the early morning hours depositing 18 cm of new snow. The trailing cold front will move through this morning in a Southwest flow aloft. By this afternoon we should see an upper level trough move into our zone with very light snowfall continuing into Saturday afternoon. Another frontal band pushes through Saturday night with light to moderate snowfall and strong winds. Freezing levels will hover around surface today & Saturday. More light snow will continue into early next week with FL in the valley.
Guesstimates: 5-10 cm by Saturday morning, 20-25 cm by Sunday morning, 15-18 cm by Monday morning, 3-5 cm by Tuesday morning.

    Cold front passing through this morning with upper level trough following.

   We can expect very light snowfall into Saturday afternoon.

    Next front will arrive Saturday night into Sunday morning.





Video Friday:

Air Bag protects ski racers: CNN

Collapsing, cracking, & triggering a small avalanche: Montana's Fragile Snowpack

BCA Float Avalanche Airbag saves Yamaha Snowmobiler: You Tube




Articles:

La Nina is coming-What will the transition look like: InvestorsVillage

There's a new tallest peak in the North American Arctic: National Geographic

Missing AK skier presumed dead in avalanche: Alaska, Brutal Loss

I am happy to live in the Coastal Mountains: Boot Packing Silverton, CO

    Overcast but not a lot of precipitation in the clouds.

    Southerly flow for tomorrow, much of the moisture is heading South.

    Nice to have winter in the valley!!

    Nice Plate Stellars yesterday.

    No wind around 16:00 Hours.

    Snowing less than 1 cm per hour in the afternoon.