April 4, 2018

    AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:

    An avalanche has killed a Norwegian on the Kungsleden Trail, Sweden. Article below.   Net Pic

    Locally, some cornice trimming with Sz 2 Debris.


    YESTERDAY:

    Snowing to the valley Tuesday morning, snowline at 700 meters.

    Alta Lake is beginning to break up.

    A few breaks in the afternoon.

    If you know the snow, life is good!!

    Chainsaw Ridge.

    Steeps were skiing well.

    Awesome turns in Crystal zone amongst the trees.

    Tuesday afternoon.

    Big picture on Tuesday.



Weather Observations for April 4, 2018  taken at 06:00 Hours.

2180 meters     -9, Winds were 5-10 KPH SW--Whistler Peak
1835 meters     -7, Winds were 5-10 KPH SW--Roundhouse
1660 meters     -6, 1 cm of new, 1 cm in 24 hrs  Base 299 cm --Pig Alley

  660 meters      0, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was +5.9, 0.2 mm of precip recorded yest

    As of 07:00 Hrs this am we have broken cloud and unlimited visibility.




FORECAST:

Unsettled this morning before a weak warm frontal band brings overcast skies with periods of light snow fall in a Westerly flow aloft. The freezing level will rise to around 1500 meters today dropping back down to about 1200 meters tonight. More of the same on Thursday with the FL creeping up to 1900 meters. Same pattern for Friday with the FL topping out at around 2000 meters. Saturday will see a more vigorous front with slightly more precipitation and the FL reaching 2000 meters.
Guesstimates: 1-3 cm by Thursday morning, 5-10 cm by Friday morning above 1650 meters, 2-6 cm by Saturday morning above 1650 meters.

    GOES IR image from this am.

     Low will be the winner today, High will push warmer temps into our zone.

    Unsettled this am.

    Cloudier this pm.

    Fronts along the coast.

    Warm front for tomorrow.

    Followed by a cold front.

INFORMATION & OBSERVATIONS:

    Stellars, rimed stellars, and graupel.

    Cornices in the treeline.

    Top of Glacier Express.

    Dry and light for April!!

    Many ripe cornices developing, will be interesting when it warms up.

    Frosted old man's beard.



ARTICLES:

An avalanche has killed a Norwegian on the Kungsleden Trail: Sweden

The Science of Snow: Revelstoke Review

Backcountry Travellers-Easily triggered Soft Slab Avalanches: NF News

Avalanche Forecasters grapple with a deadly season: Washington State

Avalanches--The Ever Present Danger: Born2Climb