December 27, 2017

    AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:

    Information on the recent Sz 3 avalanche at Meidspitz, SWI.  Info in article sction below. Pic SVG

    No new avalanches observed locally yesterday.


   YESTERDAY:

   Mostly overcast all day. We were on the border of the battle between Arctic high & Trough.

    Low level cloud moved in quickly Tuesday.

    Sundog Tuesday afternoon.

    Stratus layer in the valley with high cloud to the North near days end.


Weather Observations for December 27, 2017 taken at 06:00 Hours.

2180 meters    -11, Winds were 30-40 KPH SSW --Whistler Peak
1835 meters      -8, Winds were 20-25 KPH WSW--Roundhouse
1660 meters      -8, 2 cm of new, 2 cm in 24 hrs  Base 157 cm --Pig Alley

  660 meters    -10, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was -8.0, 0.0 mm of precip recorded yest

   As of 07:00 Hrs this am we have broken cloud, variable visibility and snowing lightly.


FORECAST:

A weak warm front in a Westerly flow aloft will bring light snow to the area with the Freezing level remaining at surface. The low off the coast will send several frontal bands our way with the FL slowly rising to around 1200 meters by noon on Thursday. Light snow can be expeted into Friday
night with an offshore upper ridge building for Saturday into Monday.
Guesstimates:5-10 cm by Thursday morning, 5-10 cm by Friday morning, 5-10 cm by Saturday morning.

    GOES IR image from this am.

    Low sending a warm front our way but still cold.

    Today.

    Many fronts along the coast.

    Similar situation for Thursday.


    INFORMATION & OBSERVATIONS:

    Just below the mid layer of cloud.

    Lower Mountain creeks are not where you want to end up!!

    Tracks of Phalnax.

    Lower Mountain snowguns were blazing.

    Just after dusk.

    Tuesday afternoon.

    Big picture on Tuesday.

ARTICLES:

Update from Sz 3 avalanche that killed a hiker on Meidspitz: Switzerland

Sz 3 Avalanche kills skier on Glattwang in Graubunden: Switzerland

Avalanche Forecaster-Drew Hardesty sets his intentions on sucess: Backcountry Magazine

3 backcountry rituals to practice this winter: BlackDiamond

Are snowmobiles losing popularity in Utah: Salt Lake Tribune

Mammut Barryvox S review: Justin Lamoureux