1 Jan 2018

January 1, 2018






    AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:


    An avalanche has buried a skier on Kootney Pass. Information in article section below.

    An avalanche has killed a snowmobiler in Salt River Range, Wyoming: Story below.        Net Pic

    Locally, Sz 1-2.5 natural avalanches observed in the area.


    YESTERDAY:

    Early morning, high scattered cloud.

    Stratus layers creeping into the valleys.

    Clear to to Northwest.

    A truly awesome day Sunday.

    Skiing some pow.                                                                                                Julianne Budd Pic

    High scattered cloud in the afternoon.

    Nice light for most of the day.


Weather Observations for January 1, 2018  taken at 06:00 Hours.

2180 meters      0, Winds were 20-30 KPH W--Whistler Peak
1835 meters    +1, Winds were   5-10 KPH W--Roundhouse
1660 meters     -3, 0 cm of new, 0 cm in 24 hrs  Base 187 cm --Pig Alley
  660 meters   -13, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was -5.2, 0.0 mm of precip recorded yest


    As of 07:00 Hrs this am we have broken cloud and unlimited visibility.


FORECAST:

An upper level ridge will bring unsettled weather for today in a North to Northwesterly flow aloft. The freezing level will reach 2400+ meters today with inverted temperatures. Tomorrow will be similar with the ridge strengthening for Wednesday. Unsettled again on Thursday before a warm
frontal band pushes through Thursday night into Friday with light snowfall.



    GOES IR image from this am, clouds in the area.


    Warm temperatures today.



    Mixed bag for Today.


    Fronts on the Coast.

    Ridge with some cloud in the area for Tuesday.


INFORMATION & OBSERVATIONS:

    Wind slab avalanche.

    Off Phalnax Ridge.

    Many pockets of wind slab from Sunday night.

    Blackcomb Glacier Creek

    Cool frost formations.

    Lots of dry light snow below treeline.

    Loaner.

   Sunday afternoon.

    Big picture on Sunday, lots of cloud.

From Avalanche Canada recent MIN reports:

Whistler Backcountry

Duffy Area



ARTICLES:

An avalanche has buried a skier in Kootney Pass: British Columbia

An avalanche has killed a snowmobiler in Salt River Range: Wyoming

Update on the avalanche near Val D'Isere: France

Local Backcountry rescue groups remind public to report all avalanche activity: Vail Daily

A snowboarder has died in a tree well in Whitefish Mountain Resort: Montana

31 Dec 2017

December 31, 2017


    AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:

    Storm snow skier triggered point releases on N. face Millers Ridge. No skier involvement. Ran on crust. Fairly slow   
    moving cold blower storm snow. Thanks to Toby Salin for this image and intel. Submitted yesterdy.


    Wind slab in the alpine Saturday. Avalanche control produced Sz 1.5-2 Xh, Xl, Xe, Xb. Sc Sz1.

    An avalanche at Cols des Fours, France has killed a ski tourer. Story in article section. Net pic



    YESTERDAY:

    Mostly cloudy in the morning.

    Arctic high to the North.

    Looking over at Mt Cayley.  Up to Sz 2.5 buried crowns observed in the backcountry.

    An awesome day.

    Skiing was nice too!!!

    Low level cloud in the afternoon.

    Stratus layer moving into the valleys.

    Mt Currie in the distance.

    Nice sky at days end!!


Weather Observations for December 31, 2017 taken at 06:00 Hours.

2180 meters      -8, Winds were 20-25 KPH NNW--Whistler Peak
1835 meters      -9, Winds were   5-10 KPH NNE--Roundhouse
1660 meters    -11, trace of new, trace in 24 hrs  Base 193 cm --Pig Alley
  660 meters    -12, Valley Temp, Max Temp Yesterday was -3.8, 3.9 mm of precip recorded yest

    As of 07:00 Hrs this am we have scattered cloud and unlimted visibility.



FORECAST:

An uper level ridge with a South/Southwesterly flow aloft will push cloud into our area today.
Unsettled, with the freezing level at surface and inverted temperatures. Monday will also be unsettled with the FL rising to around 1800 meters. The ridge strengthens for Tuesday into Wednesday with mostly sunny skies and the FL spiking to around 2500 meters on Tuesday. Thursday is looking unsettled at this time, with a warm moist front expected for Friday. Get out the sun screen!!
Guesstimates; no precipitation expected until Friday.

    GOES IR image showing cloud in the area this am.

      Cold High, Warm High, Big Low. 


    Sunday, last day of the year.


    Fronts along the coast.


    Monday, welcome to 2018.


    INFORMATION & OBSERVATIONS:

    Wind slabs in the alpine.

    Loose snow sloughs in the treeline.

    Dry light cold snow!!

    Blue Bird in the afternoon.

    Cool sun feature yesterday.                                                                                Dorith Dooley Pic

    Some places are just wind exposed.

    And some places like to make Sastrugi. Click for explanation.

    Amazing what the wind can do.

    Wind pressed snow produced wind slabs Friday night. Some of the debris!!

    Image from Saturday afternoon.

    Big picture Saturday afternoon.


From South Caost Touring:
Slow down on the caution corner of slinging pass ! Spectacular crash there today. A guy missed the corner and slid down the cliff band, got stopped by some little trees before the big one. All ended well , ski retrieved but had one hard climb out.
Latest Avalanche Canada MIN reports:
Cayoosh Pass



ARTICLES:

An avalanche has killed a ski tourer near Val d'Isere. France

Backountry avalanche at Bridger Bowl: Montana

Truck caught in avalanche briefly closed Hwy 200: Montana

Update on the avalanche in Zalzburg: Austria

Highway 3 open but avalanche threat persists on local roads: Keremeos