December 24, 2020

      YESTERDAY:

      Great temperatures for making snow in the valley.

      Clouds moved in from the South early in the am.

      Mount Currie.

      Nice to see some Christmas Spirit!!

      Man made was soft and dry!!

      Wednesday Dec 23, 2020. 15:15 Hrs 0 Deg C with a 10-20 KPH South wind. -3 in the valley.

      GOES image from the same time period.

      Just before sunset.

Weather Observations for December 24, 2020 taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters      -3, Winds were 50-65 KPH E--Horstman Hut

2180 meters      -4, Winds were 40-55 KPH S--Whistler Peak
1860 meters      -1, Winds were 15-25 KPH SE --Rendezvous 

1835 meters       0, Winds were 15-30 KPH SE--Round House

1650 meters      -3, 0 cm in 12 Hrs, 0 cm in 24 Hrs, Base 146 cm --Pig Alley
1560 meters      -3, 0 cm in 12 Hrs, 0 cm in 24 Hrs,   Base 89 cm--Catskinner

  660 meters      -9, Valley Temp, Max temp Yesterday was -2.6, 0.0 mm of precip yesterday.

      As of 07:00 Hrs this am we have some high scattered cloud and unlimited visibility.

FORECAST: 

Upper level ridge will bring mostly sunny skies this morning in a South West flow aloft. Cloud will move in later today with a front arriving early Christmas Day. The FL will rise to around 1000-1200 meters today with some warm air aloft. Cold front tomorrow will bring periods of light precipitation and continue into Saturday. Mostly cloudy on Sunday with some flurries. Looking like unsettled weather but dry for Monday. Guesstimates: 1-2 cm by Friday am, 12-16 cm by Saturday am, 2-6 cm by Sunday am, trace-1 cm by Monday am. 

      GOES IR image from this am.

      High pressure today with sunny skies this am, ridge shifts east this pm allowing cloud into the area.

      Cold front arrives Friday with light precipitation. FL around 1000 m.

       Periods of light precip on Saturday. Warmish.

     AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:

      Snowmobile released avalanche at Powder, MIN report below.                      Michael Sewell Pic

      No new avalanche activity on Whistler.

      No new avalanche activity on Blackcomb.

    Not sure if this is from yesterday or not. Looks like a Sa on Decker.

      Zoomed in a bit more.

      Old debris in Lakeside Bowl.

From Sea to Sky Advisory:

Many wind slab avalanches were triggered naturally and by riders on Tuesday. They mostly occurred on southerly aspects due to recent north wind. They most occurred at alpine and treeline elevations.

A few large avalanches have been observed on the weak layers described in the snowpack summary within the past week and they were triggered  by riders, explosives, and naturally. They occurred on northerly aspects between 1900 and 2100 m and were generally 30 to 50 cm deep.

     INFORMATION & OBSERVATIONS:

      Mount Fee in the foreground.

      Many people heading into the backcountry.

      Pyroclastic and Cayley in some morning light.

     Overcast for most of the day.

      Tracks on Cowboy Ridge.

      Rainbow Mountain

     Sunny breaks later in the day.

LOCAL AVALANCHE CANADA MIN REPORTS:

Powder Mountain Incident: Dec 22, 2020

Anif: Dec 22, 2020

Small Slab Avalanches-Elfin Lakes: Dec 22, 2020

Whistler Peak, outside boundary-Size 2.5: Dec 22, 2020

Sproatt: Dec 23, 2020

Mt Chief Pascal: Dec 23, 2020

Watersprite: Dec 23, 2020

VIDEOS:

Powder Picker Dec 23, 2020: David Jones

ARTICLES:

Avalanche Canada issues special public warning after recent snowfall: CHEK

Extreme Avalanche danger: Colorado