Snow Conditions

Date: Mar 24, 2012

Lodge: Sentry Lodge 7:00am

Sky: Clear

Precipitation: Nil

Temperature

                Min: -11

Max:

Present: -9         

HN24 (am) 0

H2D (am/pm)

HST (storm) 0

Foot Pen: 25

HS: 345

Surface Conditions: Surface hoar size 2-3 mm

Wind: Light NW

Bar Trend: Rising

Bar Pressure: 780 mb/ steady

Stability:

Alpine: Fair

Tree line: Fair

Below Tree line: Good

 

Date: Mar 8, 2012

Lodge: Sentry Lodge

 

Sky: Broken

Precipitation: Nil

Temperature

Min: -12

Max:0

Present: -8            

HN24 (am) 0

H2D (am/pm) 3

HST (storm)  75

Foot Pen: 70

Surface Conditions: New Snow 2mm

Blowing Snow at Ridge Top: previous from west

Bar Trend: Rising

Bar Pressure: 780

Stability:

Alpine: Poor

Tree line:  fair / considerable

Below Tree line: Fair

Stability Qualifiers: touchy to stubborn triggering to size 3 on all aspects

 

Date: Feb 23, 2012

Lodge: Sentry Lodge

 

Sky: Broken

Precipitation:  Nil

Temperature 

                Min: 

                Max:

Present: -10             

HN24 (am)  0

H2D (am/pm)  3

HST (storm)  41

Foot Pen: 60

Surface Conditions: Decomposing Forms 0.2-0.5

Blowing Snow at Ridge Top:

Bar Trend: Rising

Bar Pressure:  782

Stability:

                Alpine:  Poor

                Tree line:  Poor

                Below Tree line:  Fair

Stability Qualifiers: High winds today with intense transport at ridgetop.

February 01-09th Sunrise Weather Data


Sunrise Weather All Readings taken in the AM
Date 30/01/2012 31/01/2012 01/02/2012 02/02/2012 03/02/2012 04/02/2012 05/02/2012 06/02/2012 07/02/2012 08/02/2012 #########
Sky Overcast Overcast Obscured Broken Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Clear Overcast
Precipitation S -1 S -1 S -1 Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil
Current Temp - 7 Celsius -10 Celsius - 11 Celsius -14 Celsius - 11 Celsius - 11 Celsius -12 Celsius -10 Celsius -13 Celsius -15 Celsius - 9 Celsius
Foot Pen 55 cms 50 cms 40 cms 35 cms 30 cms 30 cms 30 cms 30 cms 25 cms 25 cms 25 cms
Surface Condition New 1-2 cm New 1-2 cm New 1-2 cm V 1-2 V 2-3 V 2-3 V 2-3 V 2-3 V 2-3 V 2-3 V 2-3
H2D 12 3 8 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
HN24 12 5 9 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
HST 46 7 14 10 cl 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
HS 312 308 305 290 287 283 279 271 259 244 236
Wind Speed Light Light Light Calm Calm Calm Calm Calm Calm Calm Calm
Wind Dir West West Southwest                
Barometric Pressure 772 MB 777 MB 776 MB 790 MB 794 MB 791 MB 789 MB 795 MB 788 MB 791 MB 793 MB
Alpine  F F F F F F F F F F F
Treeline F F G G G G G G G G G
Below Treeline G G G G G G G G VG VG VG
Comments Continued excellent skiing for 14 consecutive days, snowpack tightening up with warm, daytime temps.                    

December 02-09, 2011 (recorded by Russel Lybarger, Ski Guide ACMG

Sunrise Lodge

Avalanche Obs: a fly over the range Dec. 02 from Sunrise to Sentry (and subsequent touring) revealed a significant avalanche cycle had occurred, probably during the Nov. 22/23 storms. About six large ones (size 2.5 - 3) and several size 2's mostly on South and SE aspects, with a few on North, NE and East aspects. Two of the largest were the size 3 off the SE aspect of Cupola Pk and the size 2.5 off the SE face of Wakebi Pk.  Both of these had crowns of at least one meter, failing in the rotten faceted base to ground. It is not known what the failure plane of the other slides were. We did not see or trigger any slides during the week, other than very minor sloughing.

 Weather:  Received 10cms snow Dec. 3, then nothing the rest of the week. Mostly had clear days with valley fog topping out at 1600M. Moderate to strong winds and variable fog/cloud on Dec. 5/6. Max temps were -2/-3  on two days, otherwise max temps of about -6 to -8. Min. temps were -15 to -16. The winds shifted from normal windward (S and SW) to NW and even North on Dec. 5/6, creating hard slab and scouring in the Alpine. Not much snow left on these windward aspects in the Alpine. This left the best skiing on NE to SE. 

Snowpack: HS at the Sunrise weather plot was 178cms on Dec. 3, settled to 160 by Dec. 9. This was a bit more than average for early Dec. The thinnest was about 110cms at 1600M

Except as noted in the Alpine where it is mostly windslab and facets, the treeline and below was a strong pack with no significant shears on SE thru N. A full profile on a N aspect at 2150M showed no existence of any November SH layers, no notable layers in the upper and mid pack, only a 40cm layer of rounding facets next to ground with an old(Oct) SH layer on top of it. CTN, RB7 -no result. Only a broken very hard shear on the Oct. SH, 40 cms from ground.

TP on S asp 2200M showed HS 145-150cms. CTE RP down 8cms stellars HN interface. CTE RP down 17cms old stellars. CTH 29 broken shear down 70 old SH to 2mm.

TP on Paradise Run SW asp. 2300M HS 135 showed CTM SP down 15cms just below a 1cm suncrust.  By Dec. 9 the surface was a consistent layer of surface hoar to 6mm, surface facets (mature powder) and windcrust.

 Skiing: We skied mostly TL and below from 2400 -1600M on N, NE, E, SE and S aspects. We were able to ski the steepest lines available to 50 degrees, including some large slide paths like Krankenstein, Hogzilla, and Basic Instinct

October 24th, 2011

Current Temp = -4.5C

Foot pen= 
10cm temp.= 
H2D= 
HN24= 20cm
HST=  55cm
HS= 71cm
Wind speed= 
Wind dir.= 
Baro pressure=

Avalanche Hazard:

Alpine =

Treeline =

Below Treeline=

Remarks = 

 

 

 

October 22th, 2011

Current Temp = -0.5C

Foot pen= 
10cm temp.= 
H2D= 
HN24= 15
HST=  47cm
HS= 58cm
Wind speed= 
Wind dir.= 
Baro pressure=

Avalanche Hazard:

Alpine =

Treeline =

Below Treeline=

Remarks = 

 

October 20th, 2011

Current Temp = -3.5C

Foot pen= 
10cm temp.= 
H2D= 
HN24= 
HST=  32cm
HS= 45cm
Wind speed= 
Wind dir.= 
Baro pressure=

Avalanche Hazard:

Alpine =

Treeline =

Below Treeline=

Remarks = This is the 4th major snow fall of the season. Snow pack consolidation on all aspects is virtually guaranteed above 2000M. The Ski Season Starts today

 

 

October 13th, 2011

Current Temp = -3.5C

Foot pen= 
10cm temp.= 
H2D= 
HN24= 
HST=  15cm
HS= 25cm
Wind speed= 
Wind dir.= 
Baro pressure=

Avalanche Hazard:

Alpine =

Treeline =

Below Treeline=

Remarks = This is the 3nd major snow fall of the season and will probably stick for the season.....Yeah!!

 

September 29th, 2011

Current Temp = +1C

Foot pen=
10cm temp.=
H2D=
HN24=
HST=  27cm
HS= 24cm
Wind speed=
Wind dir.=
Baro pressure=

Avalanche Hazard:

Alpine =

Treeline =

Below Treeline=

Remarks = This is the 2nd major snow fall of the season adhering to protected north facing alpine aspects. 20 more cm will allow XC training to begin at Sentry Lodge

September 18th, 2011

Current Temp = +3C

Foot pen=
10cm temp.=
H2D=
HN24=
HST=  34cm
HS= 18cm
Wind speed=
Wind dir.=
Baro pressure=

Avalanche Hazard:

Alpine =

Treeline =

Below Treeline=

Remarks = This is appears to be the first snow storm of consequence for the new season. Most likely south and west aspects will melt out but there is good chance that this cycle will forming first layer infant snow pack on East and especiallyNorth Facing aspects for the upcoming 2011/12 Season