March 26, 2015

    Early Wednesday morning March 25, 2015, snowing 1 cm per hour.
               

    Before opening on Wednesday.

    Perspective from a valley dweller.

    It did snow at 680 meters for a few hours Wednesday morning.

    Light snow during the morning hours.

    Drier in the afternoon with improved visibility.

    After closing with some light snow.


Weather Observations for March 26, 2015; taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters       0, Winds were 50-65 KPH from the S
2180 meters       0, Winds were 45-65 KPH from the SSW
1860 meters     +1, Winds were 25-50 KPH from the ESE
1835 meters     +3, Winds were 15-50 KPH from the SSE
1650 meters     +4, No new snow, 3 cm in 24 hours,  Base 188 cm
1550 meters     +4, No new snow, Base 130 cm, Relative Humidity 95%. 

  660 meters     +6, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was +6.2, 8.3 mm recorded on Wednesday

    As of 07:00 Hours today we have overcast skies and variable visibility.


For the forecast, an upper ridge is building to our South, we will have cloudy skies this morning with unsettled conditions this afternoon into Friday (mostly cloudy). The air mass is warm, with freezing levels reaching 2600 meters and the possibility of some lingering showers this morning and this afternoon. A cold front will move onshore Friday evening with FL dropping to 1500 meters with light precipitation.  A cooler and moist weather pattern is forecasted for the weekend with FL fluctuating from 1600 to 1800 meters. March may go out like a lion with a vigorous cold front expected for Monday night. Guesstimates: 8-10 cm for Saturday morning above 1400 meters, 10-12 cm for Sunday morning above 1600 meters, 10-20 cm for Monday morning above 1800 meters.

    Big picture from yesterday, lots of moisture about.

    High pressure building to the South.

    Moisture for Friday night with a cold front.

    Fairly moist for the weekend.

    Cool wet pattern for early next week.

    Flow pattern for the next few days.


ARTICLES:

Fire hose taking aim at BC: Avalanche Canada

First Sentinal -1 detections of avalanche debris: The Cryosphere

Special warning for the Sea to Sky Corridor: Avalanche Canada

    Ducks were appreciating the calm wet weather in the valley.

   No breeze on Lost Lake.

    Moisture was just hanging onto the trees.

March 25, 2015

    Just after sun rise March 24, 2015.

    First light early yesterday morning

    There were some breaks on Tuesday morning.

    3 cm on Christine's deck Tuesday morning.

    Lineups looked tolerable on Tuesday, with good conditions in the alpine.

    Fresh tracks for those in the know.

    Just after official sunset which was 19:30 yesterday evening. Front approaching!

Weather Observations for March 25, 2015; taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters     -5, Winds were 40-50 KPH from the SE
2180 meters     -5, Winds were 25-40 KPH from the S
1860 meters     -4, Winds were 15-25 KPH from the ESE
1835 meters     -3, Winds were 20-40 KPH from the ESE
1650 meters     -1, 5 cm of new snow, Base 187 cm
1550 meters     -2, 3 cm of  new snow, Base 132 cm,  Relative Humidity 98%. 

  660 meters    +2, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was +9.6, 0.2 mm recorded on Tuesday

    As of 07:00 this am we have obscured skies, limited visibility and it is snowing 1 cm per hour.


For the forecast, a warm front in a Westerly Flow aloft will bring light rain to the area with a Freezing level rising to 2000 + meters by this afternoon. The front will slowly push through by Thursday afternoon with FL rising to 2500 meters, a very weak ridge will bring brief unsettled conditions to the area for Thursday night. Another front will move onshore on Friday with light to moderate precipitation and a FL starting at around 2200 meters and dropping to 1500 metes by Friday night as a cold front pushes through. Saturday and Sunday are looking cloudy with light precipitation and the FL fluctuating between 1400 & 1800 meters. As of now Monday is looking unsettled. Guesstimates: 6-8 cm above 2000 meters by Thursday morning, 15-25 cm above 2000 meters by Saturday morning, 5-8 cm above 1400 meters by Sunday morning,  5-8 cm above 1700 meters by Monday morning.

    Satellite image from yesterday at 15:00 Hours.

    Big picture from yesterday aft certainly shows a significant amount of moisture over the Pacific.

    Westerly flow for today.

   Warm front with ascending freezing level.

    The high is losing this battle.

    Low will keep directing moisture into the area above the high.

    Very warm temperatures for Thursday- Friday.

    Cold front reaches the coast on Friday night.


ARTICLES:

Sea to Sky Avalanche Warning: Avalanche Canada

An Interior problem on the Coast: Avalanche Canada

Mixed 2015 winter for French lift operators: Pistehors.com

Plane crash in Alps sounded like an avalanche: France

California Snowpack is a record low of 9% of normal: Ouch

Recent (Sunday) skier size 1.5 remote initiating size 3 slab running over existing tracks.

    Skier remote on Russet Ridge from ski track in foreground.                                     SWBC Image

    Lots of convective clouds in the morning.

    Lots of folk enjoying the dusting from Monday night.

    Great conditions in the Whistler Park.

    Into the abyss.

March 24, 2015

    Sunrise Monday March 23, 2015; 07:09 hours.

    Lower level cloud began to lift shortly after sunrise.

    Great light once the clouds dissipated.

    There was some blue early Monday morning.

    Around mid day on Monday.

    Around 18:00 hours on Monday.

    Just before last light on Monday evening.

Weather Observations for March 24, 2015; taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters     -7, Winds were 5-10 KPH from the SSW
2180 meters     -5, Winds were 5-10 KPH from the SSW
1860 meters     -6, Winds were 5-10 KPH from the SE
1835 meters     -4, Winds were 5-10 KPH from the SE
1650 meters     -3, 4 cm of new snow, Base 188 cm
1550 meters     -2, 3 cm of  new snow, Base 132 cm,  Relative Humidity 98%. 

  660 meters    +2, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was +8.9, 1.8 mm recorded on Monday

    As of 07:00 Hours we have overcast skies, unlimited visibility and a valley cloud layer.

For the forecast, a very weak ridge has developed with unsettled weather (mostly cloudy) and the likelihood of some isolated showers to form in a Northwesterly flow aloft with freezing levels hovering around 1000- 1400 meters. The FL should drop to around 1000 meters this evening prior to the arrival of a warm front which will bring light precipitation to the area tonight through Thursday afternoon in a Southwesterly flow. The FL will range from 1000 meters to a high of 2500 meters as the warm front passes through on Thursday.  Another weak ridge will build Thursday evening bringing unsettled weather into the weekend. There is however a very short lived fast moving cold front expected sometime Friday night with moderate precipitation and a FL falling to 1500 meters. The models are not in very good agreement on the pattern for the weekend so more on that as we get closer.
Guesstimates: 3-5 cm by Wednesday morning above 1200 meters, 5-8 cm by Thursday morning above 2000 meters, 8-12 cm by Saturday morning above 1400 meters.

Still stories of avalanche activity in the area. Skier accidentals up to size 1.5. Read the local bulletin at the top of the page.

    Yesterdays satellite image.

    Big picture yesterday.

    Overall flow for today.

    NAM looks fairly dry but there should be lingering cloud.

    Warm front moves in this evening shifting to a Westerly flow than a Southwesterly flow.

    Nam has the precipitation moving into the area slower than the GFS.

    Wednesday with light precipitation.

    High from the South will build on Thursday night.



ARTICLES:

Update on McBride avalanche fatalities: RockyMountainGoat

Colorado Supreme Court rules on InBounds Avalanche Liabilities: SnowBrains

British Columbia develops climate change action plan: PowderCanada

The Human Factor--Black Diamond Avalanche Safety: WildSnow

Coast Mountain Backcountry Report: March 20, 2015

    Whistler Bowl Monday morning.

    Snow makers busy on Blackcomb again yesterday morning.