Mountain Weather for Sunday, March 15th, 2015

CB Avalanche Center March 15, 2015Weather

Date: 03/15/2015

High pressure hangs on, and even warmer air invades the Elk Mountains. Overnight, low temperatures near and above treeline barely dipped below the freezing mark. Light winds and temperatures pushing 50ºF today will get that spring fever going in even the most diehard winter enthusiast. The swirling split flow in the Jet Stream is evolving and the storm on Tuesday is taking shape and looks to be a little more exciting than 24 hours ago… stay tuned.. Rain still looks to be a pretty good bet however..

Today

High Temperature: 50
Wind Speed: 5-15
Wind Direction: W
Sky Cover: Decreasing clouds
Snow: 0″

Tonight

Low Temperature: 30
Wind Speed: 0-10
Wind Direction: SW
Sky Cover: Partly Cloudy
Snow: 0″

Tomorrow

High Temperature: 45-50
Wind Speed: 0-10
Wind Direction: W
Sky Cover: Partly Cloudy
Snow: 0″

Marcellina

CB Avalanche Center March 15, 20152014-15 Observations

LOCATION: Kebler Pass Area
DATE OF OBSERVATION: 03/14/2015
NAME: Zach Guy

SUBJECT: Marcellina
ASPECT: East, South East, South
ELEVATION: Near/Below treeline

AVALANCHES: Skier triggered 2 very small wet slabs, about 8-10″ deep, 30′ wide on E to ENE aspects below treeline. They broke on wet depth hoar. There were several glide avalanches that ran sometime since the last storm, failing at the ground on rock slabs.

WEATHER: Warm, clear, light wind.

SNOWPACK: Shallow snowpack. Got 4 or 5 wet slab style collapses on E and SE aspects below treeline, and one on a S aspect near treeline.

Mount Emmons Observations

CB Avalanche Center March 15, 20152014-15 Observations

LOCATION: Crested Butte Area
DATE OF OBSERVATION: 03/14/2015
NAME: SK

SUBJECT: Mount Emmons Observations
ASPECT: North, North East, South, North West
ELEVATION: 8800-12000

WEATHER: Clear skies throughout. Temps well above freezing for most of the day. Calm to light NW winds.

SNOWPACK: No signs of instability noted. Supportive crust on all south aspects until ~10:30. High temps, and calm winds resulted in quick softening of the surface crust as soon as the sun became high and direct. .5cm surface hoar noted on all shaded aspects along with a light crust on NW-W aspects.

Brush Creek Avalanche

CB Avalanche Center March 15, 20152014-15 Observations

LOCATION: Brush Creek Area
DATE OF OBSERVATION: 03/14/2015
NAME: ADB

SUBJECT:
ASPECT:
ELEVATION: BTL/NTL

AVALANCHES: Rollers on open sunny slopes.

Attached avalanche photo from last cycle (7 to 10 days ago). Interesting, as this slide is along the road at Canal Trail. Didn’t see animal tracks and it’s a very small slope but convex and NE facing.

WEATHER: Clear, calm, hot

SNOWPACK: Trace of new snow. BTL-some graupel. Snow became very wet in the afternoon.

UPLOADS:

IMG_20150314_155658263

Mountain Weather for Saturday, March 14th, 2015

CB Avalanche Center March 14, 2015Weather

Date: 03/14/2015

Even ridgetop locations are calm this morning, and temperatures have cooled off into the high teens and low 20s with overnight clearing. Yesterday, the convective snow showers fired up as predicted, but with minimal accumulations across our area. Looking ahead, the heat is on! Temperatures each day will warm under partly cloudy skies as a giant ridge of high pressure strengthens over the western United States. Westerly winds should remain light throughout today and into midweek before another warm, and weakening disturbance passes over the central Rockies on Wednesday.

Today

High Temperature: 40-45
Wind Speed: 0-10
Wind Direction: W
Sky Cover: Mostly Clear
Snow: 0″

Tonight

Low Temperature: 15-20
Wind Speed: 0-10
Wind Direction: W
Sky Cover: Partly Cloudy
Snow: 0″

Tomorrow

High Temperature: 45-50
Wind Speed: 5-15
Wind Direction: W
Sky Cover: Clear
Snow: 0″

Carbon Peak

CB Avalanche Center March 14, 20152014-15 Observations

LOCATION: Kebler Pass Area
DATE OF OBSERVATION: 03/13/2015
NAME: DR

SUBJECT: Carbon Peak
ASPECT: South West, West, North West
ELEVATION: 8800-12000

AVALANCHES:

WEATHER: Mix of everything except cold today. AM was partly cloudy with strong solar until noon; winds were calm and temps were 4ºC. At noon it was snowing lightly (S-1), light winds and temps were 2ºC. Less than 1cm of snow fell, with some graupel mixed in. Sun returned around 2PM, strong solar produced local “tornados” on rapidly heating west aspects. Temps jumped to 6ºC quickly. Warm, sunny and calm into the evening.

SNOWPACK: Schmoooo! Toured up on a crust that was at least 2cm thick and still hard until about 2PM. Descent on NNW aspect had 10 to 15cm of ski pen in moist snow, getting pretty wet below 10,000’. Climbed out of gully on a steep (37º) east aspect and felt some collapsing under a surface crust, but nothing moved – no real signs of instabilities. Final descent on a west aspect showed no signs of instabilities even though it was 40cm of stiff, but moist snow over weaker snow to ground.

UPLOADS:

Aspen to Crested Butte (via Pearl Pass)

CB Avalanche Center March 14, 20152014-15 Observations

LOCATION: Brush Creek Area
DATE OF OBSERVATION: 03/13/2015
NAME: JSJ

SUBJECT: Aspen to Crested Butte (via Pearl Pass)
ASPECT: North, North East, East, South East, South, South West, West, North West
ELEVATION: 9000-13000

AVALANCHES:

WEATHER: Clear, hot, sunny, and calm on Tuesday. Broken to overcast skies with thin cloud cover beginning Wed mid-day through yesterday afternoon, accompanied by calm to light NW/W winds, warm daytime temps with lots of solar green housing, and a trace of new snow as of 1000 this morning.

SNOWPACK: Aspen side of the range in the Pearl Pass zone had a similar natural avalanche cycle to CB zone, with lots (well over 2 dozen sizable slides observed) of NW/N/NE/E aspects near and above treeline having slid. Mostly all in terrain exposed to wind loading and steeper then 40 degrees. Evidence of small cycle on southerly slopes with recent solar heating. Overall, snowpack seems to have calmed down, with no instabilities noted while traveling in the alpine for 3 days on slopes of all aspects and up to low 40’s in steepness.

UPLOADS:

Mountain Weather for Friday, March 13th, 2015

CB Avalanche Center March 13, 2015Weather

Date: 03/13/2015

The overall weather picture today looks to remain unsettled, with increasing clouds due to daytime heating and potentially producing a few quick inches of snow across the higher terrain. The weather outlook for the weekend, and beyond, looks unseasonably warm as the dreaded “Rex Block” high pressure sets up over the western United States. Our next chance of precipitation, (note I did not say snow..) looks to be late next week. Grease those bike chains!

Today

High Temperature: 35-40
Wind Speed: 5-15
Wind Direction: E
Sky Cover: Overcast
Snow: 0-2″

Tonight

Low Temperature: 20-25
Wind Speed: 5-15
Wind Direction: S
Sky Cover: Mostly Cloudy
Snow: 0-1″

Tomorrow

High Temperature: 40-45
Wind Speed: 0-10
Wind Direction: W
Sky Cover: Decreasing clouds
Snow: 0″

Crested Butte Area

CB Avalanche Center March 13, 20152014-15 Observations

LOCATION: Crested Butte Area
DATE OF OBSERVATION: 03/11/2015
NAME: Brian Lazar

SUBJECT:
ASPECT: North
ELEVATION: BTL, 11300 ft.

AVALANCHES:

WEATHER:

SNOWPACK: http://avalanche.state.co.us/caic/obs/obs_report.php?obs_id=34924

UPLOADS:

Mountain Weather March 12, 2015

CB Avalanche Center March 12, 2015Weather

Date: 03/12/2015

A broad trough is streaming Pacific moisture into Colorado this morning. The main dynamic forcing element for this system is afternoon convection, similar to summer thunderstorms, so snow showers will arrive this afternoon and intensify tonight. Passing cells could drop a quick 1″-3″ or so in some areas, and completely miss others. Trailing shortwave energy will keep weather unsettled into Saturday, before mild and dry weather takes hold by Sunday.