May 12, 2017

    AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:

    No new avalanche activity observed yesterday, alpine closed all day.



    YESTERDAY:

    Wet ride up Thursday May 11, 2017.

    Ski out to the valley is still intact.

    Very light snow at 09:30 Hrs which eventually turned to rain then back to snow.

    Thursday morning.

    Multiple cloud layers.

    Thursday afternoon.

    Snowing at 15:30 Hrs at 1860 meters. +1 Deg.

    Dried out at around 16:30 hrs.

    Nice evening by 20:00 Hrs.

    21:00 Hrs Thursday evening.


Weather Observations for May 8, 2017 taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters      -6, Winds were 20-25 KPH SE--Horstman Hut 
1860 meters      -3, Winds were 10-20 KPH SE--Rendevous
1550 meters      -2, 9 cm of new snow, 9 cm in 24 hrs, 226 cm Base, RH 96%  --Catskinner 

  660 meters     +3, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was +11.6, 12.8 mm of Precip recorded yest

Last nights snow brought the cumaltive snow for this season to 1306 cm.

   As of 07:00 hrs this am we have broken cloud, variable visibility and new snow in the alpine.



 FORECAST:

A slow moving upper low will move onshore today with unsettled conditions and some light sporadic precipitation in a Southerly flow aloft. We will see some breaks during the day and the FL will range from 1000 meters this am, spiking at around 1600 meters than dropping to 1000 meters by tonight.
The upper trough will slowly drift over the area Saturday with overcast skies and the chance of some flurries. Sunday is looking like a similar day with more frequent snow flurries in the upper elevations. The next upper low out of the Gulf of Alaska will send a weak frontal band our way Monday with light snowfall in the alpine. The low should move South Tuesday with a possible drying trend, some unsettled weather and warmer tempertures. A weak upper ridge is forecasted to build on Wednesday.
Guesstimates: 2-6 cm by Saturday morning, 1-4 cm by Sunday morning, 4-6 cm by Monday morning.

    GOES IR image from this am.

    Slow moving upper low off the coast.

    Looks like some breaks later in the day.

    Overcast but fairly dry on Saturday.

       Overast Sunday.

    Another upper low moves down the coast on Monday.

    High builds for Wednesday.


    OBSERVATIONS & INFORMATION:

    Water is poring out of the mountains.

    Flurries at 1860 meters in the morning.

    Snow in the trees by 16:45 Hrs.

    Dried out by 16:30.



VIDEO FRIDAY:

Taken out by a sluff: Over a 100 Ft Cliff

Video of avalanche on Icefields Parkway: Facebook

Drones & Biking do not mix: You Tube

Clearing snow from Mtn Pass in Norway: Drone Footage


ARTICLES:

12 Avalanche fatalities this season in the US, 55 % below average: CAIC

A multiphysical ensemble system of numerical snow modelling: The Cryosphere

Sylvan Pass had 75 avalanches last week: Wyoming

Acceptable Avalanche Risk: Mears & Wilbur