December 5, 2015

    An Avalanche in the Tatra Mountains has claimed a Polish Mountaineer, story below. Net Pic

    Some great breaks yesterday morning with a variable sliding surface.

    Top step of step fx. Total height of slab. 1.72m. Average 65cm slab 80m wide. Good 2.5 sympathetic to jump for joy              
      shot.  Steps in upper hst. Ultimate bed surface suspected nov 18th mf crust. BSP Photo

    There were some flurries at times.

    Many folks were hiking up for the South Side on Blackcomb. Good snow at higher elevations.

   Old size 2 Na's were on many of the avalanche paths. Some size 1-2.5 Xe from control yesterday.

    Unsettled for most of the day.

    Next weather maker heading our way.



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

2240 meters       -6 Winds were 50-75 KPH SSE          --Horstman Hut Station
2180 meters       -6, Winds were 45-60 KPH SE        --Whistler Peak
1860 meters       -5, Winds were 10-30 KPH ESE         --Rendevous
1835 meters       -4, Winds were 25-60 KPH SE              --Roundhouse
1650 meters       -2, 10 cm of new, 12 cm in 24 Hrs, 98 cm Base, Relative Humidity 100%  --Pig Alley
1550 meters       -3, 7 cm of new, 66 cm Base          --Catskinner 

  660 meters      +2, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was +4.5. 1.4 mm of precip in 24 hours

   As of 07:00 Hrs we have obscured skies, limited visibility and it is snowing 2 cm per hour.


For the forecast, a strong warm front in this active series of systems will bring heavy precipitation and strong winds to our zone this morning into tonight in a Southwest flow. Freezing levels will rise to about 1300 meters by tonight, which is much cooler than the last front. The next strong frontal wave will arrive on Sunday with a slightly higher freezing level of around 1400 meters. Monday is looking slightly warmer, FL around 1600 meters max, with light precipitation. Tuesday is looking like another fairly strong front with a FL hovering around 1500 meters. Wednesday will be unsettled with cooler temperatures. Guesstimates: 20-30 cm by Sunday morning, 30-40 cm by Monday morning.

    Deepening low will bring precipitation to the area this am.

    Unfortunately it is a warm front with strong winds for today into this evening.

   A series of strong frontal systems for Sunday, Monday, Tuesday with breaks in between.

    Low will still be pumping moisture at us into Wednesday.


Articles:

Avalanche kills Polish Mountaineer: Tatra Mountains

Fairbanks sledder talks about his burial: Alaska

El Nino: MountainSledder

Asia is warming the Arctic: ScienceDaily

    Constant stream of hikers at the top of JC.

    Nice day at 13:00 Hours.

    Stratus layer above the valley floor was moist.