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AlpineRose
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PostTue Jan 17, 2017 5:46 pm 
Snoqualmie today at noon, yes, 15 degrees at 3100, 35 degrees at 5500. Freezing rain, sleet, bring it on.

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gb
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PostTue Jan 17, 2017 5:49 pm 
DIYSteve wrote:
Bootpathguy wrote:
159 mph wind gust @ Crystal. So says KOMO & KIRO Wow! Checked Crystals website and no mention of the gust
156mph at 1700 on the telemetry: https://www.nwac.us/weatherdata/crystalskiarea/now/
Hard to know if that is real or not. Notice that Crystal had gaps in data from the top at 1400. Also, though a gust of 107 at Crystal at 1300 is recorded, otherwise winds at Crystal and at other usually windy sites are nothing like 156mph. If it happened, you would have been braced for 35 mph standing at the top and the next moment you would be halfway to Norse Peak. Hold on to your hats. As to Snoqualmie it was already icy this AM according to a friend who called earlier. I suggested she get into her car. Wouldn't be able to get out, however. "Help, help!" Back in the late 60's, '68, I rode a train through the Columbia River Gorge. There was 3" of ice on everything. Portland to Hood River may get a repeat of that. Hood River Icestorm

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DIYSteve
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DIYSteve
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PostTue Jan 17, 2017 6:05 pm 
Yeah, could be a whacky telemetry number. Or not. When Mission Ridge showed a 172mph spike last winter it was confirmed as real. One of our sekrit spots, a basin at c. 5500' E of crest got a wind a few years ago that snapped 200+ old growth White-bark Pines and Subalpine Firs like they were toothpicks. Glad I wasn't there when that happenend.

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gb
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PostTue Jan 17, 2017 6:17 pm 
These really strong freak winds can be tornadoes or microbursts (but usually at lower elevations). They sometimes happen west of the crest in the Rainier area when down valley winds converge from a couple different valleys. Probably a combination of E- SE winds dropping over the crest with perhaps a katabatic component. What comes to mind for me was Ipsut Creek in the mid-80's. We were skiing up Ipsut Creek perhaps a mile or two (in nice spring weather). Soon, we encountered huge piles of 2-3' old growth stacked up to 30' high from all directions. The damage was over an area of about 1/4 mile if memory recalls. "Routefinding" was tricky....

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gb
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PostTue Jan 17, 2017 6:26 pm 
Also Easton Ridge was interesting last early summer. There were many 2'+ Subalpine firs snapped and fallen across the trail. Those trees are really tough and certainly strengthened in response to often strong winds. But broken off? Maybe that happens sometimes there, you say. But, if that were so, there would be other similarly sized downed Subalpine firs in various stages of decomposition from windstorms over the last couple of centuries. But there aren't. In that location it hasn't happened over a long enough period of time for those old, fallen Subalpine firs to have decomposed and disappeared completely. That must have been an amazing wind last winter.

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RichP
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PostTue Jan 17, 2017 8:36 pm 
Westbound lanes of I-90 closed due to avalanche.
Quote:
Westbound lanes of I-90 Snoqualmie Pass are closed due to a snow slide at milepost 50. Westbound traffic is stopped at milepost 106 near Ellensburg, milepost 84 near Cle Elum and milepost 70 near Easton. The westbound lanes will remain closed all night until crews can assess the slide during daylight hours. The Eastbound lane is closed milepost 47 to remove trucks

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zephyr
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zephyr
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PostTue Jan 17, 2017 8:40 pm 
RichP wrote:
Westbound lanes of I-90 closed due to avalanche.
You're quick. Just came on here to post that. haha Here's the link to the Pass report. ~z

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DIYSteve
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PostTue Jan 17, 2017 9:24 pm 
Snoq Pass closed both directions. Westbound traffic closed at 106 Eburg. Per WSDOT "Eastbound lanes closed at MP 47 to remove trucks." NWS called this ice storm

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Malachai Constant
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PostTue Jan 17, 2017 9:44 pm 
Whistler closed all the upper lifts and P2P today, went XC.

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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joker
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PostWed Jan 18, 2017 11:16 am 
From DOT:
Quote:
I-90 Snoqualmie Pass remains closed in both directions from mp 34 near North Bend to mp 106 near Ellensburg. Crews have assessed conditions and determined that the pass will not open today or tonight. Conditions are such that it is not safe in some areas for crews to do the work necessary to open the roadway. Crews are continuing to monitor conditions.

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joker
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PostWed Jan 18, 2017 11:17 am 
Yeah, I checked Whistler's forecast last night out of curiosity (have some friends up there now, was wondering how their week was going). Today did not look like it would be fun on the slopes even if all lifts were open, with a freezing level almost at the top.

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treeswarper
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treeswarper
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PostWed Jan 18, 2017 1:49 pm 
joker wrote:
From DOT:
Quote:
I-90 Snoqualmie Pass remains closed in both directions from mp 34 near North Bend to mp 106 near Ellensburg. Crews have assessed conditions and determined that the pass will not open today or tonight. Conditions are such that it is not safe in some areas for crews to do the work necessary to open the roadway. Crews are continuing to monitor conditions.
Mmmmkay. I thought so. Quite a few trucks are using White Pass today. Packwood restaurants should be doing well today.

What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
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thunderhead
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PostWed Jan 18, 2017 3:16 pm 
A gust to 156mph at crystal yesterday is believable, although its definitely on the high side of what you would expect out of a storm like that. Modeled free air sustained wind speed at about that height peaked at about 65-70mph, from the correct direction. To have an isolated ridge-crest gust hit twice that speed is certainly possible. Crystal also just gusted to 129mph with modeled sustained winds at about 70to75mph(which is a much more normal gust ratio) They also got >4 inches of pure rain(at the 4500 level base)! Sad.

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gb
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PostThu Jan 26, 2017 2:52 pm 
Garth talked to the folks at Crystal and they don't believe the 156mph gust ever happened. There was no evidence to indicate it had occurred.

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