Wayne Flann Avalanche Blog: February 20, 2022

YESTERDAY:

First lift up. snowing to the valley. Nice to see snow in the trees!!

Good visibility above 1400 meters.

Snowing at 10:30 Hrs.

A brief break around Noon.

13:00 hrs -2 with a 20-40 KPH S wind at 1860 m..

Snowing at 13:15 Hrs at 1860 m.

Snowing in the valley at 15:00 Hrs.

Weather Observations for February 20, 2022 taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters -11, Winds were 20-25 KPH N--Horstman Hut

2180 meters -10, Winds were 10-15 KPH N--Whistler Peak

1860 meters -10, Winds were 0-5 KPH NNE--Rendezvous

1835 meters -9, Winds were 5-10 KPH W--Round House

1650 meters -9, 1 cm in 12 Hrs, 5 cm in 24 Hrs. Base 231 cm --Pig Alley

1570 meters. -8, trace in 12 Hrs, 3 cm in 24 Hrs. Base 164 cm. Catskinner

660 meters -1, Valley Temp, Max temp Yesterday was +2.6, 2.9 mm of precip yesterday

As of 07:00 Hrs this am we have high scattered cloud, valley cloud and unlimited visibility.

FORECAST:

A weak upper level trough will bring a very unsettled day in a North Westerly flow aloft. A mix of sun and cloud this morning with some power flurries this afternoon, unsettled into the evening. The freezing level is hovering just below surface, may go up to 800 m this afternoon??, likely staying below surface for the day with cold Arctic air in the mix. An upper level ridge builds for Monday with sunny skies and cold temperatures. The same goes for Tuesday with colder temperatures. A weak upper level trough may push through on Wednesday with a mix of sun and cloud, slight chance of a flurry. Ridging returns for Thursday into Friday with mostly sunny skies and seasonable temperatures. No end to the blocking pattern until at least Friday?? Guesstimates: trace-1 cm by Monday am. 0 cm by Tuesday am, 0 cm by Wednesday am, 0-trace by Thursday am.

GOES IR Image from this am.

GOES 17 ABI mage 2022/02/20. 05:00 Hrs.

Weak upper trough will bring unsettled weather for today.

Westerly flow aloft switching to Northwesterly today.

Ridge of high pressure will bring sunny skies for Monday. Colder temperatures with Arctic Air.

Ridge continues to bring sunny weather with colder temperatures Tuesday.

Large ridge.

Blocking pattern looks to persist for at least the next 4-6 days.

AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:

No new avalanches were observed on Blackcomb Saturday.

Avalanche mitigation on Whistler Saturday produced some Sz 1 storm Slabs Xe Sc.

FROM AVALANCHE CANADA-SEA TO SKY:

Avalanche Summary

Early reports Saturday afternoon indicated thin wind slabs were reactive to ski cutting just below ridge crests..

On Thursday a natural icefall triggered a size 2.5 avalanche on the slope below. This avalanche was on a northeast aspect at 2100m.

On Wednesday one size one natural cornice fall was observed on a east aspect at 2200m. It was in extreme terrain and did not pull a slab on the slope below.

Snowpack Summary

New snow and southwest winds on Saturday will likely have formed wind slabs on north and east aspects.

The mid February crust is down 10 to 30cm . This melt-freeze crust is reported to exist on all aspects and elevations except for some of the highest elevation polar aspects. Facets have been observed above the crust on polar aspects.

The late-January crust/facet/surface hoar interface is buried down 40 to 100cm. This layer was most reactive between 1700 m and 2000 m. While this layer now appears to be dormant in many parts of the region it may be possible to trigger it with a large load or in shallow snow pack areas at upper treeline or lower alpine features on polar aspects.

INFORMATION & OBSERVATIONS:

All Lifts all zones open.