March 9, 2016

    Shuswap SAR recovers missing snowmobiler from an avalanche: Story in articles. John Schut Pic

    First lift Tuesday March 9, 2016. Snowing lightly.

    Overcast for most of the day, periods of good visibility.

    Snow was nice, another great day of sliding around.

    Some interesting light in the afternoon.

    The occasional sucker hole went through in the afternoon.

    Power flurry at around 16:30 hours.


Weather Observations for March 9, 2016: taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters     -8, Winds were 25-35 KPH SSE --Horstman Hut Station
2180 meters     -7, Winds were 25-30 KPH SSE --Whistler Peak 
1860 meters     -6, Winds were   5-15 KPH SE   --Rendevous
1835 meters     -6, Winds were 15-20 KPH SE   --Roundhouse 
1650 meters     -4, 1 cm of new snow, 4 cm in 24 hrs, 319 cm Base, RH 92%    --Pig Alley
1550 meters     -5, 1 cm of new snow, 2 cm in 24 hrs, 249 cm Base, RH 95%    --Catskinner

  660 meters      0, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was +4.4. 2.4 mm of Precip recorded yest

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


For the forecast, the weak front broke up with unsettled conditions for this morning, a strong warm front will arrive later in the day with strong winds, heavy precipitation and a FL maxing out at around 1500 meters. The FL should drop to around 1200 meters by the evening when most of the energy in the system arrives in a SW flow. The front continues into Thursday morning with strong winds when it finally blows out in the afternoon. A weak ridge builds for Thursday night into Friday morning with unsettled conditions and warm temperatures. Another weak front arrives on Friday night, intensifying Saturday morning with moderate to light precipitation with a FL hovering in the 1000 meter range. A series of Pacific fronts continues to spin from  the deep low off  Nrn Vancouver Island. Guesstimates: 25-35 cm by Thursday morning, 15-20 cm by Friday morning, 3-6 cm by Saturday morning, 15-20 cm by Sunday morning.

    Front is on its way, should see cloudier skies by noon.

    Strong winds in a Westerly flow should keep the FL at around 1000 meters.

    Flow for the next few days.

   Very deep low will be driving a strong warm front our way Wednesday Night into Thursday am.

    Strong winds and heavy precipitation for Thursday as well.



ARTICLES:

Missing Sicamaus Snowmobiler recovered from an avalanche: SAR Body Recovery

Dual avalanches in Banff National Park prompts warning from officials: Calgary Sun

Risk of being involved in an avalanche less for smaller groups: Wilderness Environmental Medicine

Snowboarding, Once a High Flying Sport, Crashes to Earth: New York Times

Simulation shows how Pacific Northwest could be decimated by a megaquake: Cascadia Fault

Gulmarg Ski Patrol: Kashmir

    09:00 Hrs yesterday morning. Overcast and snowing lightly.

    Low is churning away, yesterday afternoon 15:45 Hours. US Coast is getting lots of precipitation.

    Big picture yest at 15:30. The atmospheric rivers origin is warm, 24 Degrees and cloudy in Maui.

    Snow was skiing well on all aspects.

    Mid layer cloud was very thick later in the day.

    Lower Cougar Chutes.

    Sucker hole on sweep.