January 12, 2018

    AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:

    Recent avalanche activity near Squamish, look at MIN report below.                                MIN PIC

    Locally, no new avalanche activity observed.

YESTERDAY:

  Snowed briefly in the morning before the arctic high pushed the low South.

   The low was trying hard in the morning.

    Valley cloud began to lift.

    Clear to the North where the Arctic High was hanging out for most of the day.

   1 cm recorded here in 24 hours, 29 in 7 days. 9 cm recorded at Cypress Mountain, 62 in 7 days.

    Front pushes back at the end of the day. But the high eventually pushed back with clear sky's.

    Just before sunset yesterday.



Weather Observations for January 12, 2018  taken at 06:00 Hours.

2180 meters     -4, Winds were 30-35 KPH S  --Whistler Peak
1835 meters     -1, Winds were 10-20 KPH SE--Roundhouse
1660 meters     -2, trace of new, 1 cm in 24 hrs  Base 186 cm --Pig Alley

  660 meters     -8, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was -2.3, 0.0 mm of precip recorded yest

   As of 07:00 Hrs we have overcast skies, variable visibility and it is snowing very lightly.


FORECAST:

A weak warm front in a Southerly flow for today as a surface low pushes through. The freezing level has the potential to go to 1500 meters today. A building ridge will begin to send warm air our way Saturday with overcast skies, clearing by Saturday night. The freezing level could go as high as 3000 meters by Saturday night.  Sunday is looking warm and sunny with the FL well above the local peaks. A series of seasonable frontal bands will bring snow to the South Coast from Monday into Thursday of next week with the FL fluctuating from a high of 1800 meters to surface. There are some inconsistencies in the models but hopefully we will see some decent snowfall!!
Guesstimates: 3-6 cm by Saturday morning, 1-3 cm by Sunday morning.

    GOES IR image from this am, moisture going North, lets hope we get some snow this am.

    Warm high to the South, Low to the North, Arctic High to the Northeast.

    Warm front pushing through.

    Fronts along the coast.

    High building to the South pushing the low North Saturday.



    INFORMATION & OBSERVATIONS:

    Lots of snow in the trees.

    Overcast yesterday afternoon, stars were out last night for a while.

    Catskinner Weather station at 1550 meters.

    Kokanee Race Series on JC run yesterday.

    Old growth on Blackcomb.

    Thursday afternoon, nice clouds went South.

    Big picture Thursday afternoon.


From Avalanche Canada MIN Reports:

Size 2 slabs in the backcountry Wednesday

Widespread Wind Redistibution



VIDEO FRIDAYS:

Snowboarder out runs avalanche: Pyrenesse

Cutting roof cornices: France

Avalanches--Animated: You Tube


ARTICLES:

Special avalanche warning issued for B.C. interior after skiers death: Global News

A picture can be worth a thousand problems in B.C.'s Backcountry: CBC News

Avalanche warnig in effect  for the Cascades: Washington State

Highwinds damage Mont-Blanc Cable Car: Chamonix