YESTERDAY:
Tuesday December 10, 2019. 14:30 Hrs. -2.6 Deg C with a 15-30 KPH SE wind.
Tuesday morning. Clouds moved in fairly quickly.
Front pushed in by noon.
Looking South Tuesday afternoon.
Tuesday afternoon.
2240 meters -7, Winds were 10-15 KPH SE--Horstman Hut
FORECAST:
A Pacific Front will bring light precipitation in a Westerly flow aloft for today. The FL will likely rise to around 1300 meters as a warm frontal band passes through this afternoon. The brunt of the precip will likely go South, with some moisture and a few weak frontal bands passing through Thursday into Friday morning. A ridge is forecasted to build on Saturday with unsettled weather. Discrepancies in the models for early next week. Lets hope some moisture comes our way. Possible storm for next Tuesday! Guesstimates: 12-18 cm by Thursday morning, 2-4 cm by Friday morning, Trace- 2 cm by Saturday morning.
GOES IR image from this am.
Low will send some light precip today. Should start sometime this afternoon. 14:00 Hrs?
Fronts along the coast.
Slightly cooler Thursday with very light precip.
Cooling down a bit more, dry with overcast skies for Friday. FL in the valley Friday night.
AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:
Old activity, no new local avalanche activity to report.
INFORMATION & OBSERVATIONS:
Snow flurries started around 12:30 Hrs.
Moisture in the valley from snowmaking.
AVSAR training on Whistler Mountain.
High in the valley yesterday was +0.5 Deg C.
Observations and photo from Simon Thompson:
As grim as it may look, I can safely say that there is good skiing to be found right now on the South Coast despite what people might think. Yesterday was a great scouting day with @spearheadmountainguides and @anthonybonello , poking our heads in the snow and checking out the state of the glaciers. There is a layer of concern down 40-60cm to watch out for though. We remotely triggered a size 1 avalanche from 100m away on the Spearhead Gl. We have a 50cm hard slab sitting on top of a 10cm facet layer lying above a crust. Be aware folks, we have an extremely shallow snowpack right now, with a problematic layer and although many areas are below threshold, you can still get surprised... especially on avalanche slopes where early season terrain traps are prevalent i.e. rocks and open crevasses. Know before you go and be safe.
FROM AVALANCHE CANADA MIN REPORTS:
Whistler Backcountry: Dec 9, 2019
Local Observations: Dec 10, 2019
ARTICLES:
Avalanche Risk Prediction--To ski or not to ski?: Engineering & Technology
Marker Alpinist 12 Binding: Offpistemag
Weather Observations for December 11, 2019 taken at 06:00 Hours.
2240 meters -7, Winds were 10-15 KPH SE--Horstman Hut
2180 meters -5, Winds were 10-15 KPH SSW--Whistler Peak
1860 meters -5, Winds were 5-10 KPH SE --Rendevous
1860 meters -5, Winds were 5-10 KPH SE --Rendevous
1835 meters -4, Winds were 5-10 KPH SE--Round House
1650 meters -5, 1 cm in 12 Hrs, 1 cm in 24 Hrs, Base 39 cm --Pig Alley
1560 meters . -4, trace in 12 Hrs, 1 cm in 24 Hrs, Base 10 cm--Catskinner
1560 meters . -4, trace in 12 Hrs, 1 cm in 24 Hrs, Base 10 cm--Catskinner
660 meters 0, Valley Temp, Max temp Yesterday was +0.5, 0.3 mm of precip yesterday.
As of 07:15 Hrs we have scattered cloud and unlimited visibility.
FORECAST:
A Pacific Front will bring light precipitation in a Westerly flow aloft for today. The FL will likely rise to around 1300 meters as a warm frontal band passes through this afternoon. The brunt of the precip will likely go South, with some moisture and a few weak frontal bands passing through Thursday into Friday morning. A ridge is forecasted to build on Saturday with unsettled weather. Discrepancies in the models for early next week. Lets hope some moisture comes our way. Possible storm for next Tuesday! Guesstimates: 12-18 cm by Thursday morning, 2-4 cm by Friday morning, Trace- 2 cm by Saturday morning.
AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:
INFORMATION & OBSERVATIONS:
As grim as it may look, I can safely say that there is good skiing to be found right now on the South Coast despite what people might think. Yesterday was a great scouting day with @spearheadmountainguides and @anthonybonello , poking our heads in the snow and checking out the state of the glaciers. There is a layer of concern down 40-60cm to watch out for though. We remotely triggered a size 1 avalanche from 100m away on the Spearhead Gl. We have a 50cm hard slab sitting on top of a 10cm facet layer lying above a crust. Be aware folks, we have an extremely shallow snowpack right now, with a problematic layer and although many areas are below threshold, you can still get surprised... especially on avalanche slopes where early season terrain traps are prevalent i.e. rocks and open crevasses. Know before you go and be safe.
FROM AVALANCHE CANADA MIN REPORTS:
Whistler Backcountry: Dec 9, 2019
Local Observations: Dec 10, 2019
ARTICLES:
Avalanche Risk Prediction--To ski or not to ski?: Engineering & Technology
Marker Alpinist 12 Binding: Offpistemag
keep up the great work Wango - even with the lack of snow, it's good to know what's going on out there for later in the season when we do head out. Love the technical but understandable reports from your readers too. Hands down the ONE site I tell people they have to look at daily by 7:09 before gearing up for the day on the hills.
ReplyDeleteThanks very much, could you remind them about the donate button in the side bar. Was hoping to get more people on that program as I do not have enough sponsors to make it worth my time. Cheers Wayne
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