February 22, 2017

     AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:

    An avalanche in Arctic Norway takes house off its foundation: story in article section.   Net Pic

    Sz 2.5 Nc (natural cornice drop) Northwest of Whistler yesterday.

    Locally some Sz 1 soft slabs on steep N aspects, numerous Sz 1 loose moist on solar aspects.


    YESTERDAY:

    Tuesday February 21, 2017.

    Nice morning with great light.

    High thin cloud later in the morning.

    Tuesday morning-Front to the South is very close.

    Thicker dark clouds later in the day.

    Some convection.

    Big picture Tuesday afternoon--Looking unsettled long term.

    On sweep.

    Sunset was officially at 17:40 Hours.



Weather Observations for February 22, 2017: taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters      -13, Winds were   5-15 KPH W  --Horstman Hut 
2180 meters      -11, Winds were 10-15 KPH W  --Whistler Peak
1860 meters      -13, Winds were   5-10 KPH SE--Rendevous
1835 meters      -12, Winds were   5-10 KPH S--Roundhouse
1650 meters      -12, 0 cm of new snow, 0 cm in 24 hrs, 250 cm Base, RH 88%  --Pig Alley
1550 meters      -10, 0 cm of new snow, 0 cm in 24 hrs, 184 cm Base, RH 82%  --Catskinner 

  660 meters        -6, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was +5.4, 0.0 mm of Precip recorded yest

    As of 07:00 hrs this am we have scattered cloud and unlimited visibility.


FORECAST:

An upper trough will continue to bring unsettled weather in a Westerly flow for today. Expect more sunshine later today as some of the cloud dissipates. The FL will remain below surface. Thursday will also be a mostly sunny day with the upper flow switching to  Northwest. Unsettled cool weather will be with us past the weekend into early next week. Guesstimates: trace-2 cm on Thursday morning, trace-2 cm on Friday morning.

    A few clouds around this am.

    Unsettled today with mostly sunny skies.

    Unsettled Thursday with clouds in the evening.

Unsettled Saturday into Sunday.  




OBSERVATIONS & INFORMATION:

Blaise Sack February 21 at 8:05pm

Trip report from Sea to Sky Gondola/ Sky Pilot. This was the day there was the avalanche. Think I captured the spot at around 3:44 of the vid. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzi8DhTv6hw     Steep creek area.                                                                                    Jeff Van Driel Pic Hi Wango, Spent the day in Steep Creek yesterday, February 21, on primarily north aspects under scattered cloud, -5 and light to moderate westerly winds.  Surface hoar, 5mm at treeline and 10mm in the alpine including ridgetops, sits on 20-30cm soft, cold snow on polar aspects and isolated soft slab in the alpine. Treeline and below treeline providing good dust(15cm TL) on crust skiing on open, planar features on a support crust. Fragile cornice tabs and cornices cleaving in the alpine.   We observed surface sluffing in steep terrain in reaction to skier traffic.  Of note, we received a reliable report of a remotely triggered avalanche in Cassiope basin from 60-80m away. Northeast aspect, 1900m, crown was 1-2m stepping down and ran 100m to the flats made up of large blocks of debris. It was triggered from a shallow regroup position on an outcropping. This was adjacent to the start zone which was steep and unsupported.  Enjoy the fine weather.  Cheers Jeff     Surface Hoar                                                                                            Jeff Van Driel Pic     Steep Creek                                                                                       Jeff van Driel Image

   Ski School Tuesday morning.

   Cornice debris in the bowls.

    Moisture laden clouds at days end.



ARTICLES:

An avalanche in Norway displaced a house off its foundation: Longyearbyen

Avalanche buries mountain highway between Reno, Lake Tahoe: I 90

Climate change research predicts 70% less snow in Alpine ski resorts by 2099: The Alps

Avalanche Risk High in Northern Norway: Svalbard