February 12, 2016

    Sunrise Thursday, February 11, 2016. Rainbow Mountain taken at 07:35 Hours.

    Overcast with unlimited visibility in the morning.

    Best turns were at the bottom of the mountain, softer with no traffic.

    Clear to the North in the morning.

    Pre frontal clouds later in the am just before noon.

    Started snowing in the alpine around 13:30 Hours.

    Snowing 1.5 cm per hour at 16:00 Hours down to 1100 meters, at sweep!!



Weather Observations for February 12, 2016: taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters     -1, Winds were 30-50 KPH SSE  --Horstman Hut Station
2180 meters     -1, Winds were 25-50 KPH S       --Whistler Peak
1860 meters      0, Winds were 20-35 KPH ESE  --Rendevous
1835 meters      0, Winds were 15-30 KPH E       --Roundhouse
1650 meters    +1, 8 cm of new snow, 8 cm in 24 hrs, 232 cm Base, RH 100%  --Pig Alley
1550 meters      0, 9 cm of new snow, 9 cm in 24 hrs, 182 cm Base, RH 100%    --Catskinner 

  660 meters    +1, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was +6.1. 4.3 mm of Precip recorded

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

For the forecast, a weak cold front in a Westerly flow will bring light snowfall to the area during the day with a good possibility of moderate snowfall overnight. The FL peaked briefly at 1900 meters early in the morning descending to around 1000 meters by the evening, as an upper trough in a Westerly flow pushes into the area. We should see periods of light snowfall during the day Saturday. A warmer moist front follows on Saturday night/Sunday with the FL starting at around 1400 meters slowly rising to 1900 meters by early Monday morning. At this time a vigorous warm front moves onshore for Monday with the evening receiving the bulk of the precipitation and the FL hovering around 1900 meters. The three W's come into play for Monday (Wet Warm Windy) with some cooling expected by Tuesday with yet more precipitation. Time will tell!! Guesstimates: 10-15 cm by Saturday morning, 5-10 cm by Sunday morning, 5-8 cm by Monday morning above 1700 meters. Estimates for Monday and Tuesday are a bit high as of now, with 60-80 cm possible in the alpine.

    Bulk of the moisture went through early this morning, looks like a bit of snow for tonight.

 Cold front moving through this morning.

    Cooler Westerly flow for Saturday.

    Cool upper level trough for Saturday followed by a warmer  moist Westerly flow.



Warmish Westerly flow for Sunday.

   Monday into Tuesday is looking juicy, starts warm finishes colder. Stand by for updates.




VIDEO FRIDAY:

Cascading Avalanche footage: Mt. Rundel, Alberta

Large avalanche in La Grave: France

Patience is a Virtue: Montana

The best of the FWT: Chamonix

Track Setting: AMGA

Spine Avalanche: James Heim





ARTICLES:

Indian Soldier succumbs to his injuries after 6 day avalanche burial: New Delhi

Best: Be aware of Avalanches: WyomingNews

Rare weather event produces spontaneous snowballs: Idaho

A behind the scenes look at avalanche mitigation at Aropahoe Basin: Colorado

The rising trend of Ski Patrol Unions and what it means for skiing: PowderMagazine

Tree Well video shows Dad pulling son out of a tree well: Idaho

    Approximately 10:00 Hours yesterday, very slow moist warm front just reaching the Coast .

     Image from early yesterday afternoon.

    Big picture, there is some moisture out there.

    Front moved in from the south, pushing a weak high to the North.

    -2.5 at 1860 meters just after noon with no wind.

    Raining moderately in the valley at 18:00 Hours, last night.