Wayne Flann Avalanche Blog: January 26, 2021

YESTERDAY:

Sunrise Monday Jan 25, 2021. 07:56 Hrs. -8 with a 15-20 KPH ESE wind. -2 in the valley.

Flurries Monday am, looking like winter!!! 2.8 mm recorded yesterday.

Natural and man made snow have done their work!!! Looking like winter!!

We did get some patches of blue in the am.

There were good turns to be had!!

Certainly unsettled weather.

Love my Volkls!!!

Monday 15:00 Hrs. -7 with a 10-15 KPH ESE wind. -2 in the valley.

Unsettled most of the day.

Lakeside had some nice snow!!

Drying out later in the afternoon.

Weather Observations for January 26, 2021 taken at 06:00 Hours.

2240 meters -13, Winds were 35-50 KPH SE--Horstman Hut

2180 meters -12, Winds were 40-55 KPH E--Whistler Peak
1860 meters -10, Winds were 10-20 KPH SE--Rendezvous

1835 meters -10, Winds were 15-35 KPH E--Round House

1650 meters -8, 2 cm in 12 Hrs, 2 cm in 24 Hrs, Base 219 cm --Pig Alley
1570 meters -9, trace in 12 Hrs, 1 cm in 24 Hrs, Base 154 cm--Catskinner

660 meters -5, Valley Temp, Max temp Yesterday was -0.2, 2.8 mm of precip yesterday.

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

FORECAST:

The upper low off the coast will bring a weak upper level trough with unsettled weather in a South Westerly flow aloft. Mostly cloudy with some breaks possible this afternoon. The FL will remain below surface. Unsettled Wednesday with mostly cloudy skies and some flurries. Weak trough for Thursday with periods of light precip. Same for Friday. More active frontal band forecasted for Saturday, fingers crossed it brings some snow. Guesstimates: trace-2 cm by Wednesday am, trace-1 cm by Thursday am, 3-6 cm by Friday am.

GOES IR image from this am.

Unsettled weather today with some flurries, likely a few breaks this pm.

Low and Arctic High duking it out over the donut hole. (Blackcomb)

More unsettled weather with mostly cloudy skies on Wednesday.

Low and associated weak trough should bring periods of light snow on Thursday.

AVALANCHE ACTIVITY:

Dry loose sloughing yesterday on Blackcomb.

No new avalanche observed on WB yesterday.

From the Sea to Sky Advisory:

On Sunday there were a few size 1 dry loose avalanches reported, as well as one size 2 explosives triggered cornice avalanche.

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

10-15 cm of new snow sits on a variety of old surfaces. Generally speaking, the new snow sits on firm wind slabs at upper elevations, on a crust below 1900 m and at all elevations on south-facing slopes, and on surface hoar in sheltered areas.

A crust from early December may be found around 200 cm deep in the snowpack. In shallow rocky areas, recent test results suggest that it may still be possible to trigger this layer. In deeper snowpack areas it has shown no recent results and appears to be unreactive in these areas.

INFORMATION & OBSERVATIONS:

Surface Hoar started to grow.