Environment Canada issued a snowfall warning early evening of the 13th. Our team, Melissa, Housseyni, Ida and myself checked the models to determine the start time for the event at KES. The American models (RAP, NAM & GFS) suggested that precipitation would start anywhere from 0800 - 0900 UTC, whereas the GEM regional on the other hand had precipitation pegged to begin around 1500 UTC. Since there was such a big discrepancy we decided to alternate checking the radar every 30 minute, starting at 0400 UTC, up until the event. Throughout the night, all the precipitation was happening to the North/ North East of us.
The GEM regional was not too far off, with very light precipitation starting around 1900 UTC. The drizzle did get heavier and did change into mixed precipitation, with a short transition into snow from 1900 to 2200 UTC. It cleared up for most of the afternoon, so two carsondes were conducted at Fortress Mountain. Unfortunately, no precipitation was seen during the first carsonde, except for a few pieces of snowflakes here and there. However the next carsonde that was conducted around 2200 UTC Melissa and Lucia noticed precipitation on the way up, but no transition line. They were also able to take some pictures of snowflakes at the top of Fortress. I attempted to do a skisonde, but upon arrival at Nakiska Ski Resort at 21:30 UTC I had noticed snow at the bottom of the base, so Instead I turned back and conducted a carsonde from Nakiska ski resort to KES where a transition was observed from snow at the parking lot changed to mixed precipitation near hwy 40. Snowflake pictures were taken throughout the day, however at the beginning snow was melting upon contact. The bulk of the pictures were from the heavy snowfall, when large aggregates of snowfall was observed, sometimes around ~2 cm in diameter (see picture)
We ran into a few issues throughout the day. The roof of the fishing tent where snowflake pictures were being taken collapsed after one of the poles for the roof broke. Problems arose with receiving wind information on the radiosondes. Winds throughout the event were very light, well under 5 m/s. Balloons were launched every three hours until the end of the event, with one not working at 0300 UTC (April 15). During moderate to heavy snowfall, the MRR had to be constantly swept, as the dish collected snow quickly. Luckily, this time we had no issues with icing on the dish.
So far, this is the event of the season with all instruments running. We finally received some moderate to heavy snowfall at KES, however accumulation topped up at about 5 cm, while accumulation at Barrier Lake was about 10 cm as seen on the duplex deck. The event ended at 0400 UTC (2200 MDT) and left the site at around 0630 UTC after the final sounding of the day to capture the conditions at the end of the event. Radar indicated that the storm had moved to the South / South East of KES, with nothing else of concern, so we decided to call it a night. Lastly, with the amount of snowfall we noticed that more animals were drawn to the open roads, including deer and a single moose, so driving home we were extra cautious.
Field Participants - Melissa, Housseyni, Ida, Lucia and Juris
Instruments working - MRR, parsivel, GEONOR, sounding system (except winds), Datalogger & carsondes
- Juris Almonte
The GEM regional was not too far off, with very light precipitation starting around 1900 UTC. The drizzle did get heavier and did change into mixed precipitation, with a short transition into snow from 1900 to 2200 UTC. It cleared up for most of the afternoon, so two carsondes were conducted at Fortress Mountain. Unfortunately, no precipitation was seen during the first carsonde, except for a few pieces of snowflakes here and there. However the next carsonde that was conducted around 2200 UTC Melissa and Lucia noticed precipitation on the way up, but no transition line. They were also able to take some pictures of snowflakes at the top of Fortress. I attempted to do a skisonde, but upon arrival at Nakiska Ski Resort at 21:30 UTC I had noticed snow at the bottom of the base, so Instead I turned back and conducted a carsonde from Nakiska ski resort to KES where a transition was observed from snow at the parking lot changed to mixed precipitation near hwy 40. Snowflake pictures were taken throughout the day, however at the beginning snow was melting upon contact. The bulk of the pictures were from the heavy snowfall, when large aggregates of snowfall was observed, sometimes around ~2 cm in diameter (see picture)
We ran into a few issues throughout the day. The roof of the fishing tent where snowflake pictures were being taken collapsed after one of the poles for the roof broke. Problems arose with receiving wind information on the radiosondes. Winds throughout the event were very light, well under 5 m/s. Balloons were launched every three hours until the end of the event, with one not working at 0300 UTC (April 15). During moderate to heavy snowfall, the MRR had to be constantly swept, as the dish collected snow quickly. Luckily, this time we had no issues with icing on the dish.
So far, this is the event of the season with all instruments running. We finally received some moderate to heavy snowfall at KES, however accumulation topped up at about 5 cm, while accumulation at Barrier Lake was about 10 cm as seen on the duplex deck. The event ended at 0400 UTC (2200 MDT) and left the site at around 0630 UTC after the final sounding of the day to capture the conditions at the end of the event. Radar indicated that the storm had moved to the South / South East of KES, with nothing else of concern, so we decided to call it a night. Lastly, with the amount of snowfall we noticed that more animals were drawn to the open roads, including deer and a single moose, so driving home we were extra cautious.
Field Participants - Melissa, Housseyni, Ida, Lucia and Juris
Instruments working - MRR, parsivel, GEONOR, sounding system (except winds), Datalogger & carsondes
- Juris Almonte
RSS Feed
