Wayne Flann Avalanche Blog: January 23, 2021

YESTERDAY:

Sunrise Friday was at 07:58 Hrs. -7 with a 5-10 KPH ESE breeze.

Rainbow Friday am.

The bumps are getting big, time for a reset.

Route finding for quality snow important yesterday.

Another awesome day.

Nice turns in Blackcomb Bowl.

Later in the afternoon. Great skiing in the man made.

Weather Observations for January 23, 2021 taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters -6, Winds were 10-15 KPH NW--Horstman Hut

2180 meters -5, Winds were 10-15 KPH SSW--Whistler Peak
1860 meters -5, Winds were 10-20 KPH NE --Rendezvous

1835 meters -5, Winds were 5-10 KPH S--Round House

1650 meters -9, 0 cm in 12 Hrs, 0 cm in 24 Hrs, Base 215 cm --Pig Alley
1570 meters -8, 0 cm in 12 Hrs, 0 cm in 24 Hrs, Base 148 cm--Catskinner

660 meters -10, Valley Temp, Max temp Yesterday was -0.4 0.0 mm of precip yesterday.

As of 07:00 Hrs this am we have clear skies and unlimited visibility. Inversion.

FORECAST:

Upper ridge will bring sunny skies for most of the day, cloud will push in this afternoon as a weak trough arrives for early Sunday morning. North Westerly flow aloft. The FL will remain below surface. Periods of light precip for Sunday into early Monday morning. Unsettled weather for Monday with some sunny breaks in the morning, mostly dry cloudy weather. Unsettled Tuesday with a mix of sun and cloud. Unsettled for most of the week with some snow expected next weekend. Guesstimates: trace-2 cm by Sunday morning, 5-10 cm by Monday am, trace-1 cm by Tuesday am.

GOES IR image from this am.

High pressure brings sunny skies for today. Weak trough moving in tonight.

Splitting upper trough will hopefully bring us some snow on Sunday. Cooler temps.

Unsettled with the high on one side and weak arctic low on the other.

AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:

An avalanche has killed a ski tourer near Bauges, France. Article below. Net Pic

No new avalanches observed on Whistler or Blackcomb.

Be wary of cornices, still able to release a slab avalanche.

Looks very wind affected. in most of the backcountry.

From Sea to Sky Advisory:

Avalanche Summary

Explosive control work targeting cornices on Thursday produced size 1.5 results and did not trigger slabs in the slopes below. This indicates an improvement in stability since last weekend, when similar work produced size 2 results, some triggering deep slabs on the rocky slopes below.

Earlier this month, we saw significant deep persistent slab activity, both natural and human triggered. Deep glide cracks have also been observed previously but appear to be holding together in the cool temperatures.

Snowpack Summary

Extensive wind effect in the alpine includes scoured windward aspects and hard slabs in lee terrain. As wind slabs facet and lose cohesion in the cold temperatures, they have become largely unreactive. A widespread surface crust exists below 1900 m and on south-facing slopes.

Remnants of a melt-freeze crust from early December may be found around 200 cm deep in the snowpack. In thin rocky snowpack spots, it still shows some propagation and collapse to moderate to hard loading in the most recent snowpack tests. In thicker snowpack areas it has shown no results, and appears to be trending dormant... for now at least.

INFORMATION & OBSERVATIONS:

Snowmobile tracks on Powder Mountain.