December 8, 2016

    AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:

    Old Fx line on Disease Ridge, good skier compaction.
    1 Na Sz1 west aspect. But not much to report.
    Some surface hoar development, faceting in the upper snowpack.



   YESTERDAY:

    First Light, Wednesday December 7, 2016.

    Optical or light illusion!?

    There is a snowboarder behind that man made snow spray.

    As of noon yest 100+ guns on BM 200+ Guns on WM--77,000,000 Gal of H2O  used to date.

    Image from Wednesday morning.

    Hoover's Wild Ride--nice day for a SW exposure snow profile. Info below.

    Sunset Wednesday.


Weather Observations for December 8, 2016,: taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters  -14, Winds were 20-50 KPH ENE --Horstman Hut 
2180 meters  -16, Winds were 30-50 KPH NE   --Whistler Peak
1860 meters  -15, Winds were   5-15 KPH Var   --Rendevous
1835 meters  -16, Winds were   5-15  KPH E     --Roundhouse
1650 meters  -17, 0 cm of new snow, 0 cm in 24 hrs, 154 cm Base, RH 78%  --Pig Alley
1550 meters  -17, 0 cm of new snow, 0 cm in 24 hrs, 102 cm Base  RH 75%  --Catskinner 

  660 meters  -12, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was -8.9. 0.0 mm of Precip recorded yest

A bit warmer with a slight inversion, but at -14 with a 40 KPH wind the wind chill index is -26.

    As of 07:00 Hrs this am we have clear skies and unlimited visibility.


FORECAST:

Another sunny one, with some cloud development, as a warm front moves onto the coast for later today in a Southerly flow by tonight. This morning the surface flow will be primarily Easterly with cold temperatures. The  front will arrive tonight and we could see light snow if everything aligns, or flurries if the high sends the low South. At this time its hard to nail it down, but a strong Westley flow aloft is likely. Being optimistic I think the low will have enough energy to bring moderate/heavy snowfall to the area for Friday into Saturday, as per the European Model. Temperatures will warm up on Friday/Saturday but the FL should still remain below surface. A chance for the FL to rise slightly on Saturday with the passage of the warm front, but we will still see snow to the valley. Moisture, cold temperatures--almost a perfect scenario.  We may see some very light flurries on Sunday. High meets low scenario in which the strongest survives.  Still some uncertainty to what will exactly transpire, more as we plod along. Guesstimates: 4-6 cm by Friday morning, 15-25 cm by Saturday morning, 20-30 cm by Sunday--lots of number shuffling & certain this may change again before tomorrows post.

    This morning, high pressure over Southern BC.

    Looking like a storm day Friday on the 500 MB model.

    Low could line up for the perfect scenario.. 850 MB Friday.

    If everything aligns for Saturday we could see some heavy snowfall.

    Looking clear and cold Monday into Tuesday.



ARTICLES:

Conditions Report--Coast Dec 7, 2017: Mountain Sledder

High lights from the ISSW 2016: Outdoor Research

Know before you go: KBYG

A night about avalanche awareness: Wilderness Stories

Touring Boot Binding Ramp & Delta Angles: Backcountry Skiing Blog





OBSERVATIONS:

    SW aspect profile Wednesday. 50 Deg 06' 05.4"N 122 Deg 53' 01.5"W

    Compression Test (Click for video)   Results in Profile below.

    1-2 mm Facets at 96 cm down in 16-11-12 MFcr.

    ECTX--No result on the Extended Column Test.

    Profile Wednesday Dec 7, 2016.

    Fun snow to ski or ride on.

    Tracks on Cowboy Ridge.

    Full moon is on December 14, 2016.

    Tube park is looking good. Dusk Wednesday.