January 19, 2018

    AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:

    A lone skier has been killed by an avalanche at Chamrousse, France. Story below.          Net Pic

    Locally, Sz 1-2 Na Sc Xe. Many naturals observed. Ski cutting producing Sz 1.



    YESTERDAY:

    Snowing at 700 meters yesterday morning.

    Tree skiing is improving daily.

    There were some great turns to be had.

    There were some brief breaks yesterday afternoon.

    Snow line at around 1000 meters.

    15:00 Hrs Thursday, snowing 1 cm per hour, -5 with winds 20-45 KPH South at 1835 meters.



Weather Observations for January 19, 2018  taken at 06:00 Hours.

2180 meters     -8, Winds were 45-65 KPH SE--Whistler Peak
1835 meters     -6, Winds were 25-35 KPH SE--Roundhouse
1660 meters     -4, 3 cm of new, 6 cm in 24 hrs  Base 232 cm --Pig Alley

  660 meters    +1, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was +5.3, 8.9 mm of precip recorded yest

Difficult to get amounts down with convective showers. Variable amounts depending on the activity.
Pig Alley on Whistler received 2 cm yesterday from 06:00-14:00, Catskinner on Blackcomb received 10 cm in the same time line.

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


FORECAST:

An upper trough will continue to bring moist unstable weather our way in a Westerly flow aloft. Today we will see periods of light snow under overcast skies with the freezing level hovering just above surface. Saturday will be a similar day with some flurries before a strong fronts pushes through Saturday night into Sunday. Another upper trough is forecasted for Monday with overcast skies and light snowfall to the valley. A series of Pacific fronts will  track onshore next week.
Guesstimates: 5-10 cm by Saturday morning, 10-30 cm by Sunday morning, 20-30 cm by Monday morning. Front may track South on Saturday & Sunday but we may get lucky.

    GOES IR Image for this am.

    Low will migrate East, weak upper trough for today.

    Upper trough for today.

    Fronts along the coast.

    Not much happening Saturday.

    Next front Saturday night into Sunday.


    INFORMATION & OBSERVATIONS:

    Trees can be fun!

    Warmed up mid mountain.

    Catskinner weather plot was reading 175cm, 10 cm recorded from 06:30-14:30 yesterday.

    There were some breaks in the afternoon.

    Powder to the people.

    Thursday afternoon, lots of convective cells pushing through.

    Big picture on Thursday.


Recent Avalanche Canada MIN Reports:

Touchy Pow at Brandywine

Oboe 420




VIDEO FRIDAYS:

Kodak Courage: Hand Crank Films

Tight Couloir: Whiteroom Productions


ARTICLES:

Lone skier killed by an avalanche at Chamrousse: France

Tricky snowpack this weekend: Avalanche Canada

Presentation shows avalanche safety tips: Snow Knowledge

Think ahead, plan ahead: Pique

Backcountry Safety 101 on Blackcomb: Pique