February 22, 2017

     AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:

    An avalanche in Arctic Norway takes house off its foundation: story in article section.   Net Pic

    Sz 2.5 Nc (natural cornice drop) Northwest of Whistler yesterday.

    Locally some Sz 1 soft slabs on steep N aspects, numerous Sz 1 loose moist on solar aspects.


    YESTERDAY:

    Tuesday February 21, 2017.

    Nice morning with great light.

    High thin cloud later in the morning.

    Tuesday morning-Front to the South is very close.

    Thicker dark clouds later in the day.

    Some convection.

    Big picture Tuesday afternoon--Looking unsettled long term.

    On sweep.

    Sunset was officially at 17:40 Hours.



Weather Observations for February 22, 2017: taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters      -13, Winds were   5-15 KPH W  --Horstman Hut 
2180 meters      -11, Winds were 10-15 KPH W  --Whistler Peak
1860 meters      -13, Winds were   5-10 KPH SE--Rendevous
1835 meters      -12, Winds were   5-10 KPH S--Roundhouse
1650 meters      -12, 0 cm of new snow, 0 cm in 24 hrs, 250 cm Base, RH 88%  --Pig Alley
1550 meters      -10, 0 cm of new snow, 0 cm in 24 hrs, 184 cm Base, RH 82%  --Catskinner 

  660 meters        -6, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was +5.4, 0.0 mm of Precip recorded yest

    As of 07:00 hrs this am we have scattered cloud and unlimited visibility.


FORECAST:

An upper trough will continue to bring unsettled weather in a Westerly flow for today. Expect more sunshine later today as some of the cloud dissipates. The FL will remain below surface. Thursday will also be a mostly sunny day with the upper flow switching to  Northwest. Unsettled cool weather will be with us past the weekend into early next week. Guesstimates: trace-2 cm on Thursday morning, trace-2 cm on Friday morning.

    A few clouds around this am.

    Unsettled today with mostly sunny skies.

    Unsettled Thursday with clouds in the evening.

Unsettled Saturday into Sunday.  




OBSERVATIONS & INFORMATION:

Blaise Sack February 21 at 8:05pm

Trip report from Sea to Sky Gondola/ Sky Pilot. This was the day there was the avalanche. Think I captured the spot at around 3:44 of the vid. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzi8DhTv6hw     Steep creek area.                                                                                    Jeff Van Driel Pic Hi Wango, Spent the day in Steep Creek yesterday, February 21, on primarily north aspects under scattered cloud, -5 and light to moderate westerly winds.  Surface hoar, 5mm at treeline and 10mm in the alpine including ridgetops, sits on 20-30cm soft, cold snow on polar aspects and isolated soft slab in the alpine. Treeline and below treeline providing good dust(15cm TL) on crust skiing on open, planar features on a support crust. Fragile cornice tabs and cornices cleaving in the alpine.   We observed surface sluffing in steep terrain in reaction to skier traffic.  Of note, we received a reliable report of a remotely triggered avalanche in Cassiope basin from 60-80m away. Northeast aspect, 1900m, crown was 1-2m stepping down and ran 100m to the flats made up of large blocks of debris. It was triggered from a shallow regroup position on an outcropping. This was adjacent to the start zone which was steep and unsupported.  Enjoy the fine weather.  Cheers Jeff     Surface Hoar                                                                                            Jeff Van Driel Pic     Steep Creek                                                                                       Jeff van Driel Image

   Ski School Tuesday morning.

   Cornice debris in the bowls.

    Moisture laden clouds at days end.



ARTICLES:

An avalanche in Norway displaced a house off its foundation: Longyearbyen

Avalanche buries mountain highway between Reno, Lake Tahoe: I 90

Climate change research predicts 70% less snow in Alpine ski resorts by 2099: The Alps

Avalanche Risk High in Northern Norway: Svalbard

February 21, 2017

    AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:

   An avalanche has killed 3 roadmen on the Dushanbe-Khujand Hwy: Story in article section. Net Pic

    Locally, a few Sz 1 soft slabs with ski cuts. Minor snowballing today for a brief period.

   Skied in the Rutherford yesterday This is on Cirque. The Sc is to skiers right. Third skier down            went too far to skiers left and cut out residual. Sc Sa Sz1

    YESTERDAY:

    First light Monday February 20, 2017.

    New snow overnight.

    Some nice snow early Monday morning.

    Dust on Cord.

    Monday Morning

    Brightened up as the morning progressed.

    More clouds in the afternoon.

    Just before sunset.


Weather Observations for February 21, 2017: taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters    -12, Winds were 10-25 KPH WNW--Horstman Hut 
2180 meters    -10, Winds were 15-25 KPH NW   --Whistler Peak
1860 meters      -9, Winds were   5-15 KPH E       --Rendevous
1835 meters      -9, Winds were     0-5 KPH S       --Roundhouse
1650 meters      -9, 0 cm of new snow, 0 cm in 24 hrs, 260 cm Base, RH 93%  --Pig Alley
1550 meters      -9, 0 cm of new snow, 0 cm in 24 hrs, 189 cm Base, RH 95%  --Catskinner 

  660 meters      -2, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was +4.7, 2.9 mm of Precip recorded yest

   As of 07:00 Hrs we have scatterd cloud and unlimited visibility.


FORECAST:

A broad upper level trough will continue to bring unsettled weather to the area in a light Southwesterly flow aloft. The FL should peak in the 800 meter range by the afternoon, cooling back to surface for Wednesday. The flow my change to Westerly sometime today. Unsettled weather for Wednesday and Thursday with the flow switching to Northwesterly sometime Thursday with a weak ridge building. The cloudiest day of the week will likely be Friday with more unsettled weather for Saturday. The FL will remain at or lower than surface from Wednesday into Saturday. Intermitent snow flurries are possible for the remainder of the week.
Guesstimates: trace-1 cm by Wednesday morning, trace by Thursday morning, trace-2 cm by Friday morning, trace-2 cm by Saturday morning.

   Precipitation to our South.

   Unsettled Thursday.

    Friday will be the cloudiest day.

    Unsettled Saturday.



OBSERVATIONS & INFORMATION:

Sara Carleberg February 20 at 12:36pm

Neve conditions are pretty good. The rubble creek trail head isn't plowed so you'll have to skin an extra 2km. I'd recommend going north to south because the north access looked like crap skiing (Saturday) but red heather is always a good luge track down. The snow between the sharks fin and Elfin made for pretty fun skiing - heaps better than expected. Snow looked stable but there was evidence of recent sloughing mostly on south facing slopes (but some north facing too). Garibaldi Lake was plenty frozen on Saturday. I'm sure with this sun it will be spring conditions pretty fast.

    Mid mountain cloud in the valley.

    Nice turns to be had Monday.

    Much darker skies at days end. Lower clouds lifted.


ARTICLES:

Three road men killed by an avalanche on the Dushanbe-Khujand Highway: Tajkistan

A force more deadly than Polar Bears: Avalanches

One killed, two injured as avalanche hit village in Chitral: Pakistan

Sierra braces for Heavy Snow and possible Avalanches: Sacramento


International advanced training course on snow & avalanches 2017: Russia

Meet the four-legged Furry friends who look for Avalanche Survivors: Indian Army

High Avalanche Danger in the Sierra's: Lake Tahoe Area

February 20, 2017

     AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:

   Several dead in avalanches in Badakhshan, Afghanistan. Story below in article section.     Net Pic

    No new avalanche activity observed yesterday locally.



   YESTERDAY:

    Snowline was down to 800 meters, early Sunday morning February 19, 2017.

    Another great winter day.

    Visibility was tough at times depending on elevation. Stay on the sides of the run near the trees!!

    Sunday morning, some snow laden clouds on their way.

    There were some snowy moments yesterdsay.

    Lots of convective activity!! Sunday afternoon.

    Lots of folks in the Bowling Alley.

    All Lifts open.

    Ace was haveing fun of the Glacier Creek Restraunt Deck.


Weather Observations for February 20, 2017: taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters      -9, Winds were 25-30 KPH SE--Horstman Hut 
2180 meters      -9, Winds were 25-35 KPH S  --Whistler Peak
1860 meters      -8, Winds were 15-25 KPH SE--Rendevous
1835 meters      -7, Winds were 10-20 KPH SE--Roundhouse
1650 meters      -6, 12 cm of new snow, 15 cm in 24 hrs, 264 cm Base, RH 95%  --Pig Alley
1550 meters      -5, 3 cm of new snow, 4 cm in 24 hrs, 181 cm Base, RH 95%  --Catskinner 

  660 meters       0, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was +3.5, 0.7 mm of Precip recorded yest

FORECAST:

Unsettled weather for the long term, as an upper trough in a Southwest flow aloft brings cool temperatures, a mix of sun and cloud with intermittent snow flurries. Not much more to say but this looks like the pattern into the weekend. The FL will rise a bit today (1000m) and tomorrow (800m) but after that it looks to be at surface for the remainder of the week.

    Skirted by some precipitation. Unsettled today.

    Unsettled Tuesday.

    Unsettled Wednesday 

   Unsettled Thursday.

   Unsettled Friday.



OBSERVATIONS & INFORMATION:

Slavo Mrug February 19 at 10:12am

!!!!!! Yesterday (Saturday 18/02/2017). We came back down to the parking lot at Joffre (7:00pm) after a day of touring. We found out that someone broke into our car. The rear window was broken and they stole 2 of our backpacks with the camping stuff and clothes in it.  I am not expecting that the person who did it is in this group, just want to let you know guys to be careful what you leave in your car.  KARMA will get you, poor guy!!!!!!    Clouds were thin for the most part, sun tried to come out several times during the day.     Information at the avalanche awareness hut.    Catskinner weather plot.    10 cm in 24 hours yesterday at 14:30 hours.

   Just below the mid mountain cloud layer.

ARTICLES

Several dead as snow cuts off roads to Badakhshan: Afghanistan

Update on the avalanche at Lowari Tunnel: Northern Pakistan

Two children succumbed to an avalanche burial in Bishkek: Krygystan