February 15, 2016

    Snow line was at 1000 meters yesterday morning.

    Wet snow at the lower elevations.

    Valley cloud made for some difficult visibility on lower elevations.

   Deteriorating snowman as the FL rose to 1600 meters yesterday afternoon.

    Breaks in the afternoon.

    Windy in the afternoon as well. Anabatic and catabatic winds were smoothing out the snow.

    Days are getting longer, sunset today is at 17:27.



Weather Observations for February 15, 2016: taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters     -5, Winds were 20-35 KPH SSW  --Horstman Hut Station
2180 meters     -5, Winds were 25-35 KPH SW     --Whistler Peak
1860 meters     -4, Winds were 10-20 KPH ENE   --Rendevous
1835 meters     -3, Winds were 10-20 KPH SW     --Roundhouse 
1650 meters     -2, 2 cm of new snow, 4 cm in 24 hrs, 246 cm Base, RH 93%    --Pig Alley
1550 meters     -1, 2 cm of new snow, 4 cm in 24 hrs, 189 cm Base, RH 93%    --Catskinner

  660 meters    +3, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was +4.8. 3.0 mm of Precip recorded

    As of 07:00 Hrs this am we have broken cloud and unlimited visibility.

For the forecast, overcast today with light precipitation by this afternoon, becoming moderate by this evening in a Westerly flow aloft. The freezing level will hover around 1300 meters today. Upper level ridging will bring unsettled conditions to the area for Tuesday with the FL dropping slightly to near surface by Tuesday night. An upper level low to our North will send a series of frontal bands our way until Friday. Wednesday will bring very light precipitation in the daylight hours, ramping up by the evening with moderate precip amounts and a descending FL. The FL will max out at around 1600 meters Wednesday afternoon. A cold front with moderate precip will move onshore for Thursday with the FL hovering in the 1000 meter range. Guesstimates: 10-15 cm by Tuesday morning, trace-2 cm by Wednesday morning, 10-15 cm by Thursday morning.

    Dry this morning with mod precip on the way later in the afternoon as a cold front pushes through.

    Impulse of precip tonight, drying out by tomorrow morning.

    Unsettled on Tuesday as a weak high builds.

    Low will bring several more fronts to the area Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.


ARTICLES:

Avalanche of ice and snow cascading off Half Dome: California

Air bag effectiveness--Less than you thought: EarnYourTurns

High avalanche warning in the French Alps: Pistehors.com

    A Happy sign!!

    Smooth conditions in most of the alpine terrain yesterday afternoon.

    Wind induced snow balling.