January 7, 2018

    AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:

    Update in article section on the Avalanche that has killed 11 in Northern India.            Net Pic

    Locally, some Sz 1's with Xe & Sc in the alpine running on 180106 MFcr.


    YESTERDAY:

    Saturday morning, -1 at 1860 meters. Taken at 11:00 Hrs.

    Obscured skies Saturday morning, -4 with 30-40 KPH SE at 11:00 Hrs.

    Some breaks in the afternoon.

    Cloud level just above the valley floor.

Weather Observations for January 7, 2018  taken at 06:00 Hours.

2180 meters    -8, Winds were 40-55 KPH SE  --Whistler Peak
1835 meters    -5, Winds were 10-25 KPH SE--Roundhouse
1660 meters    -4, 2 cm of new, 2 cm in 24 hrs  Base 169 cm --Pig Alley

  660 meters     0, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was +3.1, 1.3 mm of precip recorded yest

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



FORECAST:

An upper trough will send a weak warm front our way today in a Southwest flow aloft.
The freezing level will fluctuate slightly but stay in the 1000-1200 meter range. Overcast conditions with light snow fall and stronger winds can be expected as the front pushes through. A similar scenario for the next few days with some snow each day, likely will see an impulse of precipitation during the night over the next three days. Warmer Monday with the FL ranging from 1500-1000 meters. Cooler on Tuesday with the FL ranging from 1200 meters to surface. Looking like snow and overcast conditions into Friday.
Guesstimates: 10-15 cm by Monday morning, 12-16 cm by Tuesday morning, 12-16 cm by Wednesday morning.

    GOES IR image from this am.

    Low is just to our Northwest.

    Warm front heading our way for today.

    Fronts along the coast.

    Cold front on Monday.

INFORMATION & OBSERVATIONS:

    Saturday morning, Temperature in the valley at 11:00 Hrs was +2 Deg.

    Nice to see some snow in the trees again.

    Variable visibility all day.

    There were a few breaks.

    Nester's weather plot, 660 meters.

    Saturday morning at 10:30 Hrs.

    Some observations from the Duffy, thanks to Jeff Van Driel for the pictures and profile.


Hi Wango,

We had overcast skies, light W winds and -2 at 2050m on the Duffey today. 

Surface snow was moist to 2000m and above, down 5-20cm variably. Semi breakable crust 3cm thick on solar slopes at treeline and mashed potatoes on lower angle terrain. The December 14th interface is down 50-60cm and producing hard resistant planar results. Well settled lower snowpack. 

We saw evidence of wet loose to size 2.0 out of steep alpine terrain. 

Test pit on a 31 degree NNW aspect at 2030m with a snowpack depth of 175cm, produced a CTE PC down 3cm just below the surface crust, CTH RP down 30cm at a density change, CTH RP down 52cm on the 171214 interface on a mix of rounds and facets 1.5mm. 

Cheers

Jeff

   Observations on the Duffy.                                                                         Jeff Van Driel Pic

ARTICLES:

Four Steps for managing Avalanche Hazards: Backcountry Magazine

Update on avalanche in Kashmir, 11 dead: Northern India

Colorado snow  pack worst in more than 30 years: Water Shortage