March 3, 2020

    YESTERDAY:

    Moist cloud mid mountain Monday morning.

    Freezing rain from top to bottom run Monday morning.

    Good turns on the lower mountain.

    Monday March 1, 2020. 13:00 Hrs. - 2.6 with a 10-30 KPH SW wind.

    Satellite image from Monday afternoon.

    Big picture Monday afternoon.

    Visibility was challenging on Monday depending on timing & elevation.

    Awesome sunset, Kamloops Lake.

Weather Observations for March 3, 2020 taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters    -8, Winds were 20-35 KPH S--Horstman Hut

2180 meters    -7, Winds were 30-50 KPH SW--Whistler Peak
1860 meters    -6, Winds were 15-25 KPH SE --Rendezvous 

1835 meters    -4, Winds were 10-20 KPH SW--Round House

1650 meters    -6, 1 cm in 12 Hrs, 1 cm in 24 Hrs, Base 255 cm --Pig Alley
1560 meters    -5, 1 cm in 12 Hrs, 1 cm in 24 Hrs, Base 176 cm--Catskinner

  660 meters     0, Valley Temp, Max temp Yesterday was +2.2, 1.1 mm of precip yesterday.

    As of 07:00 Hrs this am we have scattered cloud and unlimited visibility. Valley cloud is lifting!!

 FORECAST:

A weak warm front will push through today, with a trailing cold font in a West-North Westerly flow aloft. The freezing level will rise to around 1200 meters, dropping down tonight to surface with the passage of the cold front. We can expect periods of light precipitation to begin around noon into Wednesday morning with strong winds as the front passes through . A dirty ridge builds for Wednesday afternoon with unsettled weather into Wednesday evening. A more vigorous front arrives Wednesday night into Thursday with light to moderate precipitation, strong winds and a favorable FL. Cool upper level trough moves in for Friday with a mix of sun and cloud for the weekend. Guesstimates: 10-16 cm by Wednesday morning, 5-10 cm by Thursday morning, 15-25 cm by Friday morning.

    GOES IR image from this am.

     Weak frontal band for today with the low in the Gulf of Alaska, FL around 1000 meters.

     Fronts along the coast.

     Brief high pressure Wednesday afternoon, with the FL hovering around surface.

     Deep low will bring a nice refresh of powder with the FL hovering just above surface.

    AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:

    Duffey Lake Road.

    Evidence of old wet slide on the Duffey.

    Some old avalanche debris on Duffey Lake.

    No avalanche mitigation on Blackcomb yesterday, no new avalanches observed.

    Some Sz 1.5 Sc on Whistler yesterday. Xc drop as well.

    INFORMATION & OBSERVATIONS:

    Difficult visibility at the peak yesterday.

    Ice on the Duffey Lake Road.

    Mountain Goat attraction!!

    High in the valley yesterday was +2.2 Deg C with 1.1 mm recorded yesterday.

AVALANCHE CANADA MIN REPORTS:

Birkenhead: March 1, 2020

Cayoosh Summit: March 1, 2020

Vantage Shoulder: March 1, 2020

Slalok: March 1, 2020

Wind Drift Avalanche: March 1, 2020

Powder Mountain: March 1, 2020

Coboy Ridge: March 1, 2020

Knothole: March 1, 2020

Watersprite: March 1, 2020

Watersprite Bowls: March 1, 2020

Upper Joffre lakes:March 2, 2020

VIDEOS:

Active wind loading: Avalanche Guys

Whistler Weather with meteorologist: David Jones

Biggest avalanches caught on camera: You Tube

ARTICLES:

Avalanche Partially buries car on Carson Spur: California

How to survive an avalanche: Adventure Blog

Another article on the avalanche that killed a guide near Chamonix: Pistehors.com

On the relation between avalanche occurrence and avalanche danger level: Cryosphere