Wayne Flann Avalanche Blog: January 10, 2021

YESTERDAY:

Awesome sky, just before sunrise on Saturday.

Early morning light on Sproat.

Cold enough to make snow on the lower elevations.

Mt Fee, click for info on this stratovolcano.

Nice turns down the deep pocket on Husume.

Another great day in the mountains.

Saturday Jan 9, 2021. 14:00 Hrs. -4 with a 15-25 KPH ESE wind. -1 in the valley.

Later in the afternoon.

Weather Observations for January 10, 2021 taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters -6, Winds were 45-60 KPH NNE--Horstman Hut

2180 meters -5, Winds were 50-60 KPH E--Whistler Peak
1860 meters -4, Winds were 20-35 KPH SE --Rendezvous

1835 meters -4, Winds were 15-30 KPH ESE--Round House

1650 meters -3, 13 cm in 12 Hrs, 13 cm in 24 Hrs, Base 239 cm --Pig Alley
1570 meters -4, 13 cm in 12 Hrs, 13 cm in 24 Hrs, Base 165 cm--Catskinner

660 meters -1, Valley Temp, Max temp Yesterday was 0.0, 4.4 mm of precip yesterday.

As of 07:00 Hrs. this am we have overcast skies, variable visibility and snowing lightly.

FORECAST:

A cold front is pushing through this morning with light precip in a South Westerly flow aloft. The FL could go up to around 1400 meters later today as a warm front moves onshore later today. Another cold front for Monday with periods of light to moderate precipitation easing by Monday afternoon with a brief drying trend into Monday night. Another warm front and trailing cold front will push through Monday night into Tuesday with light to heavy precip, hoping the FL does not get higher than 1500 meters. Seems the bulk of the storm is now going South of here with slightly cooler temps. Flurries for Wednesday with a drying trend as the storm moves South. May see some sunny breaks on Thursday. Models are not in agreement so more on that as we get closer. Guesstimates: 18-22 cm by Monday at 06:00 Hrs, 40-50 cm by Tuesday am, 4-8 cm by Wednesday am.

GOES IR image from this am.

Low in the Gulf of Alaska will send a few fronts our way. Light precip for today.

Sub tropical flow but looks cooler than forecasted two days ago. Mod-Heavy precip.

Warm air brushing by us to the South. We may get lucky with the FL. Drying out on Tuesday

AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:

An avalanche has killed 1, injured another in Cortina, Italy. Article below..... Net Pic

Sr Sz 3 Cowboy Ridge 2 parties involved 2 partially buried. Article below. Ken Nickel Photo

Different perspective of Cowboy Ridge Sz 3 yesterday. Anthony Stol Image

A bit bigger image, awesome there is so much immediate information. Greg Newton Image

Another angle from group that was near the avalanche. Taken from SCT. Joe Peplowski Pic

Glide Crack on the Apostales. Becky Weaver Image

Looks like a very smooth ground surface. Glide crack on Apostles. Kate Covella Image

Glide Crack on Apostles. Greg Newton Photo

Glide Crack from Avalanche Canada Definitions. Austin Taylor Image

Na Sz 2.5 Cayoosh. MIN report below. Lee Lau Image

Avalanche control on Whistler yesterday produced some Sz 1.5-2 Xc. Cornice control.

No new activity on Blackcomb, some Sz 1 Sc slabs on steep North aspects.

From Sea to Sky Avalanche Advisory:

Avalanche Summary

Late Saturday there was a report of size 3 skier triggered avalanche at treeline on Cowboy Ridge. Details are limited at this time.

On Thursday there was a report of a remotely triggered (from a distance of 20m) size 2.5 deep persistent slab avalanche on a west aspect at 1930 m on Cowboy Ridge. The fracture line was up to 200 cm deep. This avalanche subsequently triggered an additional size 2.5-3 deep persistent avalanche about 50 m below.

On Wednesday there were numerous size 2 explosives controlled storm slab avalanches reported running in the alpine and treeline. As well there were several persistent and one deep persistent slab size 2.5-3 ranging in depth from 100-150 cm.

Snowpack Summary

Storm snow from the past week has seen extensive wind effect at upper elevations, with scoured windward aspects, wind slabs in lee features and growing cornices at ridgetop.

The snowpack is currently quite complex. The layer of greatest concern is a melt-freeze crust from early December, found around 100-200 cm deep in the snowpack. This crust may have surface hoar or sugary faceted grains sitting above it. There have been several recent large natural and human triggered avalanches on this layer and large loads have potential to trigger these layers. Near the base of the snowpack there are facets sitting on a crust from early November which have been identified as the failure layer in recent sporadic large avalanche releases.

INFORMATION & OBSERVATIONS:

Early Saturday am, some great colours.