Wayne Flann Avalanche Blog: April 6, 2022

YESTERDAY:

Early Tuesday am.

First light on Flute.

There were some awesome turns to be had.

Very unsettled weather Tuesday.

Convective cloud development in the pm.

Convective flurries at 17:00 Hrs. -4 Deg C with a 10-25 KPH SSW wind.

Weather Observations for April 6, 2022 taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters -11, Winds were 5-10 KPH ESE--Horstman Hut

2180 meters -10, Winds were 25-30 KPH SE--Whistler Peak

1860 meters -10, Winds were 5-10 KPH ESE--Rendezvous

1835 meters -8, Winds were 5-10 KPH ESE--Round House

1650 meters -10, ?trace in 12 Hrs, trace in 24 Hrs. ?Base 305 cm --Pig Alley

1570 meters -9, ?0 cm in 12 Hrs, 0 cm in 24 Hrs. ?Base 230 cm. Catskinner

660 meters -5, Valley Temp, Max temp Yesterday was +7.2, 0.8 mm of precip yesterday

Will update?ASAP. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\

FORECAST:

Dirty ridging this am will bring mostly overcast skies with no precipitation in a Northwesterly flow aloft. The freezing level is below surface and should remain around surface for the remainder of the day. Dirty ridging for Thursday with a chance of an evening shower and the freezing level rising to 2400+ meters. Cold front arrives early Friday am with cooler temperatures, strong winds and light/moderate precipitation. Unsettled around daybreak with a mix of sun, cloud and light precipitation. Shortwave trough for Saturday will bring cool unsettled weather with periods of light precipitation. Drier on Sunday with morning ridging and clouds spilling in by the afternoon. Guesstimates: 0 cm by Thursday am, 12-18 cm by Friday am, 2-6 cm by Saturday am, 1-4 cm by Sunday am, 0-trace by Monday am.

GOES IR Image from this am.

GOES 17 C13 Image 2022/04/06. 05:00 Hrs.

Low to the North will send cloud over the building ridge today.

Dirty ridge today with no precipitation expected.

North West flow aloft.

Dirty High with warm temperatures on Thursday.

Moisture too the North, dry but cloudy on Thursday.

Aleutian Low will send a weak front our way Friday. Cooler temperatures.

Periods of light precipitation on Friday.

Unsettled Saturday with periods of light precipitation.

Dries out Sunday with sunny breaks and cloudier in the pm. Cooler.

AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:

Avalanche mitigation on Blackcomb produced Sz 1-2 Xe. One Sz 2 Sr on Ladies First.

Fracture line on Double Rubble.

Results out of Surfs Up & Double Rubble.

Debris out of Double Rubble.

Avalanche mitigation on Whistler produced, Sz 1-2.5 Xe Xc.

Xe Shale Slope.

Pre Control Pic before avalanche mitigation measures.

Flute area post control.

Flute Shoulder

Sz 2 Xe Horseshoe. Cornice debris.

Pinwheeling on solar aspects below tree line Tuesday afternoon.

FROM AVALANCHE CANADA-SEA TO SKY:

Avalanche Summary

An early report from Tuesday includes several size 1-2 explosive-triggered storm slabs and a remotely-triggered size 2 storm slab which was triggered from 2 m away.

On Monday, evidence of a recent natural avalanche cycle was reported which had occurred during the storm. Ski cutting and explosives were triggering storm slabs up to size 2, some of which were failing on the melt-freeze crust below the storm snow and some of which were failing on interfaces within the storm snow. Of the avalanches which failed on the crust, many were in the 50-60 cm thickness range in sheltered terrain and up to 100 cm thick in wind loaded terrain. A couple of the avalanches were remotely triggered from a short distance away.

Snowpack Summary

The recent storm produced 60-80 cm of new snow in the Whistler area. This storm snow has buried a firm crust which extends to mountain top on solar aspects and to around 2200 m on northerly aspects. Strong to extreme southwest wind has redistributed the new storm snow in exposed, high elevation terrain forming wind slabs up to 150 cm thick and developing large cornices. Windward slopes have been scoured down to the crust and the alpine snow surface is expected to be highly variable.

The middle and lower snowpack are generally strong and well bonded.

INFORMATION & OBSERVATIONS: