January 18, 2016

    Another fatality at Hatcher Pass, AK--Story below:                                         Todd Zumbehl Photo

    Size 1 slab N aspect Sproatt, 45 cm deep 50 m across on 20 deg slope.         Breanne Johnson Pic

    Snowing in the valley early Sunday morning, January 17, 2016.

    Snowing lightly at 1860 meters as well.

    Pig Alley weather plot, 1650 meters.

    8 cm had fallen there from 06:00 Hours to 12:00, an additional 1 cm by 14:00 Hours.

    Skiing the trees was awesome again yesterday.

    Yes we have a decent amount of snow!!!

    Snow turned to light rain in the valley at around 13:00 Hours.

    Still snowing at 1000 meters yesterday afternoon.

    Sucker hole around 14:00 Hours.

    Decent snow in the trees.


Weather Observations for January 18, 2016: taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters    -5, Winds were 40-65 KPH SE    --Horstman Hut Station
2180 meters    -5, Winds were 50-60 KPH SE     --Whistler Peak
1860 meters    -5, Winds were 10-25 KPH SE     --Rendevous
1835 meters    -3, Winds were 20-50 KPH ESE   --Roundhouse
1650 meters    -3, 11 cm of new snow, 20 cm in 24 hrs, 205 cm Base, RH 96%  --Pig Alley
1550 meters    -2, 7 cm of new snow, 17 cm in 24 hrs, 155 cm Base        --Catskinner 

  660 meters     0, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was +1. 5.8 mm of Precip recorded

Avalanche control on WB yesterday produced mostly size 1 ssls, Xe Sc. A few size 2 Xe on Whistler. Other areas in the corridor were seeing soft slabs from size 1-2 on Jan 04 surface hoar.

   As of 0700 Hrs this am we have breaks in the cloud, variable visibility and it is snowing < 1 cm/hr.



For the forecast, the trough that brought us some more snow last night will slowly move out of the area this morning. We should see unsettled conditions this afternoon as a weak ridge affects our zone. A very short lived cold front will bring more snow to the area tonight with the freezing level dropping back to 800 meters in a Southwest flow aloft. The pattern sends most of the energy South on Tuesday so we will see weak ridging with unsettled conditions. Wednesday at his time is looking sunny for the start of the day with cloud building in the afternoon prior to the arrival of a weak warm front Wednesday night into Thursday. Freezing levels may top out at 1500 meters by Thursday night then slowly descend to 1000 meters by Friday with more snow. The El Nino has been good to us!!!
Guesstimates: 8-12 cm by Tuesday morning, 0-2 cm by Wednesday morning, 3-5 cm by Thursday morning, 15-25 cm by Friday morning.

    Unsettled by this afternoon with a weak cold front heading our way for tonight.

    Frontal band on track for tonight.

    Satellite image from this morning.

    Unsettled Tuesday with the ridge building into Wednesday.

    Looking at the upcoming week. Thursday is still looking promising.

    Warm front for Thursday.



ARTICLES:

One dead in Hatcher Pass Avalanche: Alaska

Inbounds Avalanche at Sugar Bowl: Two camera angles--Lucky

Search continues for missing skier: Sugarbowl, CA

Another large avalanche in Europe : Controlled Avalanche

Two Mountaineers found dead after possible avalanche: Scotland

Update on the avalanche Saturday near Verbier: Austrian & German Freeriders

   Yesterday morning, SE winds, nicer looking clouds.

    Satellite images from yesterday afternoon. All the good clouds went South.

    System did the Southerly slide again, oh well, still great coverage and awesome turns.

    The magic stick at Pig Alley.

    Catskinner weather plot, Sunday at 14:00 Hours. Snow had stopped.

    It had snowed 10 cm from 06:00 Hours to 14:00 Hours.

    Visibility mid mountain improved after the snowfall stopped.

    Nester's weather station yesterday afternoon, snow turned to rain in the afternoon.

    Just about 10 cm there as well.

    Awesome turns on Lower Insanity. Knee deep in unasked areas.

    High winds and reloading were a bit of a concern for the Peak Chair.

   7 Th Heaven exp had a similar fate, Max gust yest morn at 2240 meters was 120 KPH at 08:45.