Browse Reports By Period: 2021 RSS

Weather Workflow 20211221

2021-12-22T06:00:00+0000

Thank you Whitney for kicking my butt back into gear to post these terribly overdue resources from my "Weather Workflow 20211221" presentation. Links below, followed by a repost of the Q&A. The full Powerpoint slide deck is inside the post attachments. List of web resources mentioned: What do the professionals think? AvCan Weather Blog https://avalanche.ca/weather/ 500 mbar chart https://avalanche.ca/weather/forecast/other-maps Automated products: SF or MF https://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Whistler-Blackcomb/6day/top GFS Heavy mountain-forecast.com is the same site NOAA Precip Probabilities https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/pwpf/wwd_percentiles.php?fpd=24&ptype=snow Ensure you set it to snow mode. This product is not available in the summer for obvious reasons Confidence between models: EPSgram https://weather.gc.ca/ensemble/naefs/EPSgrams_e.html Grains on the ground Automated snow pillow heights in BC https://governmentofbc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=c15768bf73494f5da04b1aac6793bd2e Full snow profiles (from a limited subset of locations): https://snowpilot.org/snowpits/query Filterable list of AvCAN MINs https://avalanche.ca/mountain-information-network/submissions remember to apply filter "Report Type: Snowpack" Satellite derived soundings: https://www.weathernerds.org/models/hrrr.html Pick a forecast run 0Z, 6Z, 12Z or 18Z; drop a map pin, then click get sounding. Session Q&A (reposted for visibility) I have had trouble finding weather station data to check snow depth in different areas This is genuinely difficult. There are only a few public resources I know of: Automated snow pillow height systems Snowpilot AvCan MINs (with filters applied) I tend to triangulate my weather forecasting through a variety of sites, with an emphasis on Mountain Forecast.com but I'm curious whether there is a better way to do this Yes! You can regionally target optimal precip using... Read more

Mt Strachan Up & Down Gully

2021-10-04T18:31:00+0000

On October 3rd, Doreen, Alec and Grazyna, we went to the top of Mt Strachan. Although the last three days were without major rain in the forecast, the trail (plants, rocks, roots) was very wet. There was a note attached on a tree on the Hound Sound Crest Trail, just before Christmas Gully, explaining how to access Gully part of the trail. The Christmas Gully trail was very well marked (big orange dots each couple of meters on the rocks, and orange ribbons). We haven't had any views due to the fog. Because I am a slow hiker and we hiked in the group, we completed the trail in 6 hours.

First Pump and Brockton Point

2021-02-12T03:54:00+0000

I was very pumped for the first BCMC trip I was organzing... to First Pump! The weather turned out to be clear and sunny instead of the forecasted snow. The early start was a good call and everyone was able to find parking. Only Doreen was the one that was on time. She was also very fortunate to have staff parking at Seymour as the rest of us hiked up from the BC Parks lot at the bottom. Whoops on my part for mid-judging how long it'd take me to walk from the parking lot, but everyone was there. Bez, Doreen, Sima, and Ygor. Everyone was awesome and laid back. It was Ygor's first BCMC outing! We're excited for him to continue expanding his experiences in the mountains with the club. The trail was well marked all the way to first peak. Avi conditions were moderate in the treeline and we probably could have continued on to Tim Jones or even Mount Seymour if we didn't have some avalanche transceiver practice to do at the bottom at noon. The trail was quite busy, I'm sure we passed by 200 or so people over the course of our trip. There must have been 5 different avalanche safety training groups out that same day too. Future COVID parking tip: if you happen to be coming up to Seymour after 8-9 pm, your best bet is to arrive after 1-2 pm.