Wayne Flann Avalanche Blog: January 25, 2022

YESTERDAY:

Half moon early Monday am.

Pink Sky before sunrise.

Ashlu Mountain in the background, Mount Fee in the foreground

Spindrift creating Advection and Sublimation <click for meaning.

Some clouds to the South.

Lots of tracks out there. And glaze.

16:15 Hours

Weather Observations for January 25, 2022 taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters -2, Winds were 20-30 KPH S--Horstman Hut

2180 meters -1, Winds were 25-35 KPH W--Whistler Peak

1860 meters -1, Winds were 15-30 KPH SE--Rendezvous

1835 meters 0, Winds were 10-20 KPH SW--Round House

1650 meters -2, 0 cm in 12 Hrs, 0 cm in 24 Hrs. Base 218 cm --Pig Alley

1570 meters. -1, 0 cm in 12 Hrs, 0 cm in 24 Hrs. Base 155 cm. Catskinner

660 meters -6, Valley Temp, Max temp Yesterday was +6.6, 0.0 mm of precip yesterday

As of 07:00 Hrs this am we have clear skies, thin broken cloud in area and unlimited visibility.

FORECAST:

The persistent strong ridge continues to be the dominating force in the overall pattern with a Northerly flow aloft. A weak shortwave trough slides by the area this afternoon. Sunny weather in the am with increasing cloud cover by the afternoon. The freezing level will top out at around 1800 m, dropping back to surface tonight. Wednesday is looking similar with breaks in the am, more cloud development in the afternoon. Should see warmer temperatures by Wednesday afternoon. Ridge strengthens slightly Thursday with a mix of sun and cloud. Friday is looking sunnier than cloudy. A pattern shift will hopefully come Friday night into Saturday. Now looks like snow should come on Saturday. Guesstimates: 0 cm until Saturday January 29, 2022.

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GOES IR image from this am.

GOES 17 ABI Image 2022/01/25. 05:00 Hrs.

High still in control, slightly cooler Tuesday.

Northerly flow aloft.

Low slowly begins to move the high to the east, warmer temperatures Wednesday.

High still hanging in there but loosing ground to the Lows on Thursday.

Mostly sunny on Thursday.

The blocking pattern continues into Friday now, hopefully a change Saturday. Click>Omega Block

AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:

Slab near Garibaldi Lake. Image taken Sunday. MIN report below. Eddy Van Der Kloot Pic

An avalanche has covered the Manli-Leh Highway. Northern Kashmir. Instagram Pic

Cornice control Prime Rib, Xc. Sz 2 cornice debris.

Sz 2 Cornice debris Horstman Glacier. Jan 24, 2022.

Old Wet Loose.

No new avalanches observed on Whistler. Did not hear any explosions Monday.

Old debris in SunBowl.

FROM AVALANCHE CANADA:

Avalanche Summary

Avalanche activity associated with the sustained warm temperatures has been minimal. On Friday and Saturday, small loose wet avalanches were observed out of steep south and east facing terrain and explosive control work produced cornices up to size 2.5. On Friday, natural and skier triggered wind slabs size 1.5-2 were reported.

Snowpack Summary

At mid elevations, moist surfaces or a thin crust can be found on solar aspects, while most aspects at upper elevations remain dry. Wind slabs linger in exposed high elevation terrain, mainly on north and east aspects.

The widespread and robust January 16 melt-freeze crust sits up to 30 cm deep, as high as 2100 m. There have been some observations of surface hoar sitting on the crust on polar aspects at treeline and in the alpine north of Pemberton but this does not appear to be widespread. At lower elevations, the previously rain soaked upper snowpack is moist or wet and may be capped with a breakable crust.

The depth of the early December crust/facet layer is highly variable through the region but appears to be typically down 100-200 cm. Some operators are showing the depth as low as 60 cm in shallow snowpack areas and as deep as 3 m in wind loaded terrain. The weak layer is most prominent between 1700 and 2100 m. After showing no reactivity in the peak of the warming event on the weekend, we cautiously reclassify this layer as dormant for now.

INFORMATION & OBSERVATIONS: