Latest News – Wallowa Avalanche Center

At last weeks Board of Directors meeting the Center voted in Scott Hampton of Joseph as Technical Advisor. Scott will be assisting in an advisory capacity and supporting us in instrument installations as we move forward with our proposed remote weather stations. Scott brings a wealth of knowledge and experience with weather instrumentation and radio communications to this position. We have some great plans in the works for making new weather data available to the general public soon and Scott is an integral part in assisting us in this endeavor.

Shortly we will be announcing more specific information on what type of weather station is proposed and likely to be fully functional by this coming fall; in time for our next great backcountry winter.

Stay tuned…..

Keith

Expect one last day of unseasonably warm weather today (Monday April 19). Tuesday through Wednesday a strong cold front with mountain snow will be our weather story.

During this warm spell numerous wet slides have been occurring on nearly all aspects at mid elevations. Some can be seen from Joseph on the Chief Joseph Mountain ridgeline.

Night-time temperatures the last several days have been at or above freezing. Therefore the existing snow surface has not had time enough to refreeze and solidify. This new snow will be landing on a very wet (unfrozen) old snow surface after yet another warm day today and above freezing temps tonight. The NWS has the storm beginning as rain early tomorrow morning even at 9000 feet. See the Aneroid Mtn milepost forecast on our Local Weather button.

Be mindful that this new snow will be very susceptable to avalanching when traveling in avalanche terrain.

We will update this blog if any new information comes our way between now and the end of April. Please see our final summary (issued 4-9-10) for additional things to watch for throughout the remainder of the season.

Keith

Following suit with other avalanche centers regionally, today (Friday, April 9) is our last weekly summary of the season. The Payette Avalanche Center completed their last regularly scheduled advisory last weekend but will continue to issue an update only if conditions warrant or change significantly. The Utah Avalanche Center shuts down for the season on Sunday April 11.

We may update the home page blog with condition information if we receive enough backcountry info to warrant it until the end of April.

Please look over this weeks summary, April 9, because it has a lot of good stuff to watch for between now and when there just isn’t any snow left up there.

We appreciated serving you this winter season with the summaries, educational offerings, weather info and the like. Over the summer we will periodically place things of interest on the home page blog so check it out. Things like what’s going on with WAC staff and plans for WAC’s next season.

A BIG THANK YOU to our sponsors below and all our individual donors. We very much appreciate your dollars to keep us going.

Safe travels for the remainder of the season,   Keith and all of us here at WAC

Enjoy this last set of pictures and a video from Fergi Fest Saturday April 3. Additional pics can be seen in WAC’s previous blog entry or check out the Ferguson Ridge website found on our ’Other Links’ page.

Friday will be our last weekly summary of the season, found on our ‘Current Conditions’ page. It will contain a briefer summary of current conditions found this week up there. More importantly it will have a collection of things to look for and keep in mind when traveling in or around avalanche terrain from now until the snow leaves the mountains for good in summer.

The following link is a video of the women’s downhill ski race. Tammy Knorr was the winner and this is truly regular speed film making, NOT fast-forward!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ50doDL2YM

Brian and Charlie working out the all important pre-race logistics

Andie Lueders (L) and Penny Arentsen (middle). Andie is a very helpful volunteer of WAC and Penny is on WAC's Board of Directors

An evening of music and dancing completed the excellent festivities at Fergi-Fest!

It’s quite an event at the end of Ferguson Ridge Ski Area’s normal season. A great community event with lots of socializing, some downhill racing, great skiing and of course the lawn chair race! The evening was filled with great entertainment – dancing!

The weather was splendid and last weeks’ big dump of snow provided for great coverage all over the mountain. Compare this years coverage with some previous years and most would agree that it looks like mid winter up there.

Enjoy the photos. Just a random few (can’t put them all up at once). Check out this blog for additional ones the next few days.

PS – The ‘I love Charlie’ T-shirts are in appreciation of all that Charlie Kissinger has done for Fergi and a wish for his continued good health.

A beautiful Fergi Fest day

The mens alpine downhill race

Ken Gebhardt - the mens alpine downhill winner

The lawn chair 'Super-Modified' downhill race

James Johnson (Joseph Hardware) left and Keith Stebbings. James was a contestant in the lawn chair 'Super-Modified'.

WAC staff. L to R: Dana Nave, Keith Stebbings, Charla Whiting, Ken Bronec, Roger Averbeck. Staff not present in photo: Penny Arentsen and Julian Pridmore-Brown.

Updated information can be found at:

http://forecast.weather.gov/showsigwx.php?warnzone=ORZ050&warncounty=ORC063&firewxzone=ORZ635&local_place1=12+Miles+SE+Joseph+OR&product1=Winter+Weather+Advisory

Very strong winds and blowing and drifting snow will continue to intensify this afternoon and overnight. Mountain conditions likely to be quite severe through early Saturday morning.

Please use our Local Weather button and consult the wide range of National Weather Service products available to you or check the above link frequently for updates during this storm cycle.

The National Weather service is forecasting another late season storm. Wallowa County is presently in a winter storm watch area. The Northern Blue Mountains are in a Warning area. Snow totals could range up to almost a foot in some areas with snow levels dipping to 3500 ft. Current models put the bulk of the storm over the Wallowas later in the day on Friday. Keep up to date with the latest forecasts from the NWS before heading out this weekend!

Julian P. B.