Wayne Flann Avalanche Blog: November 30, 2016

An avalanche hits 3 students in Japan, 1 Fatality--article below. Net Pic of Tateyama Area.

No new avalanche activity on WB yesterday.

Avalanche activity on Joffre. Sunday. Report & observations below. Devin Jones Image

Tuesday November 29, 2016.

Ipsoot first light!

Image from Tuesday morning.

Big Picture Tuesday Afternoon.

Glide crack at old corner 8 got a bit bigger!!

Mount Currie.

Dusk Tuesday.

Weather Observations for November 30, 2016: taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters -7, Winds were 35-50 KPH SE --Horstman Hut Station
2180 meters -6, Winds were 30-40 KPH SE --Whistler Peak
1860 meters -5, Winds were 20-30 KPH SE --Rendevous
1835 meters -4, Winds were 10-25 KPH ESE --Roundhouse
1650 meters -3, 4 cm of new snow, 4 cm in 24 hrs, 178 cm Base, RH 96% --Pig Alley
1550 meters -4, 3 cm of new snow, 3 cm in 24 hrs, 122 cm Base --Catskinner

660 meters -1, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was +1.3. 0.0 mm of Precip recorded yest

As of 07:00Hrs this am we have overcast skies and variable visibility.

For the forecast, a weak frontal band is passing through our zone this morning with the precipitation tapering fairly quickly. A weak upper ridge will replace it today into Thursday with unsettled conditions. A weak warm front will arrive Thursday night into Friday with a brief break Friday evening as a cold front moves through Saturday. As of now Sunday is looking cold and unsettled. The Freezing Level should rise to about 1200 m today then drop back to the surface by Thursday morning. Guesstimate: 1-3 cm by Thursday morning.

Upper level trough for today.

Light precipitation for most of the day.

Early Thursday morning.

High pressure with some cloud on Thursday.

Another front Friday into early Saturday morning.

ARTICLES:

An avalanche hits 3 students in Japan: Tateyama Mountains

Update on the massive avalanche in the Austrian Alps, last week: IBT Times

Watch Yourself and Your Friends in the trees: The Question

SAFE AS--Women's avalanche clinics return: TransWorld SnowBoarding

OBSERVATIONS:

Devin Jones

November 29 at 12:28pm

Another thing to report - this time from Sunday Nov 27, again on the NE ridge of mt Matier around ~1800m. A size 2 Avalanche was triggered by a member of another group while skinning up the steep wind-caked face of a crest in the ridge. It appeared to release a ~15-20 cm windslab which propagated widely and travelled quite a ways along the rain crust which wasn't buried as deep due to the wind exposure. The individual who triggered it was uninjured but a pole was lost in the debris.

Steve Andrews

Whistler

Did a heli drop on Rainbow yesterday. Surface slab releasing easily creating size 1-2 on SE-SW faces. Blower pow in other aspects. Some faceting already at higher elevation. With the cold and moist night I imagine some surface hoar will appear too. Be careful on the next snowfall!