November 21, 2017

   AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:

    There were some naturals in the area on Sunday. Explosive control produced up to Sz 3.

    An avalanche has injured a back country skier in Kananaskis Country: Story below.    KPS Image

Recent Avalanche Canada MIN report:

November 20, 2017


    YESTERDAY:

    Some great breaks early Monday morning.

    Valley cloud.

    Blackcomb Peak sunset.



Weather Observations for November 21, 2017 taken at 06:00 Hours.

2180 meters    -6, Winds were 30-40 KPH SE --Whistler Peak
1835 meters    -4, Winds were 15-25 KPH SE --Roundhouse
1660 meters    -5, 0 cm of new, 0 cm in 24 hrs  Base 195 cm --Pig Alley

  660 meters    -1, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was +5.0, 12.0 mm of precip recorded

    As of 06:45 Hrs this am we have overcast skies and unlimited visibility.


FORECAST:
 A vigorous warm front associated with a subtropical flow will bring snow to the area this am, transitioning to rain at some point this afternoon. The freezing level will climb from surface this am to 2600 meters by tonight in a strong Southwest flow aloft. We will likely receive 10-15 cm of snow by this afternoon. Models are still differing in rainfall amounts but it looks pretty wet, still a chance the brunt of the rain may stay South of Whistler, but its a fine line. The warm deluge will continue into Wednesday with strong winds and the FL spiking at around 2800 meters. A cool upper trough
will lower the FL to around 1500 meters on Thursday with some light snowfall in the alpine and tree line as a weak cold front passes.. A similar scenario for Friday with cooler temperatures and light snowfall. Another frontal wave Saturday with slightly warmer temperatures and moderate snowfall. Guesstimates: 25-35 mm of rain by Wednesday morning, 50-100 mm by Thursday morning, 10-15 cm by Friday morning above 1200 meters.

    Atmospheric river on the way.

    Warm front approaching the coast.

    Warm air in a subtropical flow.

    Flow for today.

    More rain on Wednesday.

    Cooler system on Thursday.

    More snow on Friday.

    OBSERVATIONS & INFORMATION:

    Sun warmed the snow quickly in the morning.

    There were some clouds around as well.

    Big picture on Monday.

    Respect the signs lines. Going through a closure will cost you your pass for 1 Year. Bike Park Too!

    There are many avalanche closures, this one on top of Red Chair. Flipped up is open.

     Lots of rimeing on the peak.

    A stratus layer pushed through in the morning.

    Cloudier at days end.

SouthCoast Backcountry:

Evan Stevens

Nov 20, 2017

		Evan Stevens November 20 at 9:09pm
Spent the day in the Duffy near the Exidoor/Honey Bronzed region on the Baldwin map. HS ranged from 120cms at lower elevations to 225cms in a wind loaded alpine bowl at 2200m. Overall coverage is beyond excellent for this time of year. Clouds rose from the valley bottom to at least 2400m creating a fair bit of greenhouse effect on the snow with pin balling and tree bombs galore. Ski quality remained good in locations where the surface was not hammered by these aforementioned events.

 A thin zipper crust was present at most elevations but did not reduce ski quality. Talus alpine locations are still a bit hit and miss for full coverage but very skiable. Snow pits showed a very homogeneous snowpack down 135cms to the old surface/crust. Now this is all going to change with the pineapple but at least the photos might help with coverage for now.

ARTICLES:

Avalanche injures back country skier in Kananaskis Country: Global News

Warm, wet weather increases the risk of avalanches in B.C.: CBC News

Avalanche Training could save your life: Hope Standard

Wet weather expected for much of coastal B.C.: Weather Channel

Warm temperature records will fall as a Strong Atmospheric River hits the: Pacific Northwest