December 25, 2017

                                                                 Merry Christmas



    AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:

    No new avalanche activity to report locally.


    YESTERDAY:

    Started out as a gray day!!!

    Ice on local lakes is clear and fast!

    Steeps were good on Blackcomb on some aspects..

    Grayer at the end of the day!!


Weather Observations for December 25, 2017 taken at 06:00 Hours.

2180 meters    -10, Winds were 10-35 KPH NNE--Whistler Peak
1835 meters      -8, Winds were   5-10 KPH W    --Roundhouse
1660 meters      -8, 3 cm of new, 3 cm in 24 hrs  Base 158 cm --Pig Alley

  660 meters      -9, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was -7.5, 0.0 mm of precip recorded yest

FORECAST:

An upper level trough will bring unsettled weather to the area today in a Northwest Flow aloft. The ridge of high pressure is off the coast and continuing to affect our weather and now the dry cold arctic ridge is also playing a factor in our weather pattern with cold temperatures. A few flurries are possible early this am but we should see a mix of sun and cloud for most of the day. More cloud than sun on Tuesday with some isolated flurries. Unsettled again Wednesday with some isolated flurries. There are some inconsistent model runs for Wednesday so the forecast may change. A warmer wet front is expected for Thursday into Friday with some light snow and the freezing level topping out around 1200 meters.
Guesstimates: trace-1 cm by Tuesday morning, trace-1cm by Wednesday morning, trace-1 cm by Thursday morning, 10-15 cm by Friday morning.

    GOES IR image from this am.

    Unsettled weather for today. High and low still battling it out.

    Fronts for today.

    Avalanche Canada image.

    We are in the middle of the mix on Tuesday.



INFORMATION & OBSERVATIONS:

    Creeks are freezing again.

    Not much backcountry traffic with the present surface.

    Gendarme behind the Showcase T Bar.

    Front slowly moved in by days end.

    Very defined leading edge of the front yesterday.

    Big picture yesterday afternoon.

Recent MIN reports from Avalanche Canada: 

Musical Bumps

Cayoosh




ARTICLES:

Close call on Turnagain Pass: Alaska

Avalanche danger expected to increase on Christmas Day: Utah

Avalanche in Scotts Bowl: Utah

Danger of avalanches is increasing: Norway

Fresh snow prompts avalanche warning: Montana