Student Resources
Here are some useful resources for trip planning and preparation. Bookmark this list, and add your own links as needed to create your evening and morning planning flow.
Weather Forecast
National Weather Service. Zone forecasts by area, as well as “click on the map” point forecasts. Great forecast discussion for every region.
New National Weather Service SE AK Avalanche Weather! This is an exciting new product that gives forecasts for above and below specific elevations for specific areas around SE Alaska.
Coast Alaska Avalanche Center’s Weather Page. Includes the NWS forecast as well as a highlight of real time weather stations in Juneau.
Avalanche Canada’s Mountain Weather Forecast. An amazing product covering mountain weather for Western Canada and luckily includes SE AK.
Forecast for Haines Pass and the White Pass. Co-created by NOAA NWS and Environment Canada.
Point Forecasts/ Weather Models
windy.com User friendly point forecasts, multiple weather models, and weather features to view. Features an interactive map and visual “meteogram” charts that you can compare side by side. Default is the great ECMWF European model. Good for all levels of user.
spotwx.com Great visual representation of multiple weather models in the form of “meteograms.” Takes some getting used to, but is a powerful tool. Tells you the elevation you’re seeing a forecast for (VERY USEFUL). Some models show freezing levels well.
Meteologix.com (aka https://weather.us/) A new to me European source for weather model and ensemble forecast information. Seems like a powerful tool requiring minimal experience. Compares multiple models.
snow-forecast.com “Friends don’t let friends use snow-forecast.com” Only displays one mediocre model (unlike the ones above which allow you to compare several). Over-predicts cold and precipitation (aka snow). Presents a false sense of accuracy.
Avalanche Forecast
Alaska:
Coast Alaska Avalanche Center. Juneau area. Currently limited to community-generated observations, but will include a backcountry forecast in the future.
Juneau ‘Urban’ Advisory. City of Juneau avalanche advisory for the areas of town exposed to avalanches (Mt. Juneau, Mt. Roberts, etc). Not written to describe the backcountry, but includes information useful for trip planning in the Juneau area.
Haines Avalanche Center. Haines area avalanche forecast including professional and community observations.
Alaska Avalanche Information Center. One-stop shop for most of Alaska’s avalanche centers.
North America:
US National Avalanche Center. One-stop shop for the US’s regional avalanche centers
Avalanche Canada Canada’s national avalanche center - Includes a forecast for the Yukon in the White Pass and Haines Pass
Weather Observations
Eaglecrest conditions. Weather station data sources, webcams, road conditions, terrain/gate status, uphill access, and mountain reports by real people.
AOOS Interactive Map. Integrates weather stations from multiple sources.
NOAA Juneau Area Weather Round Up. Short list of Juneau area weather station data
Long list of Juneau area weather station data
arfi.avalanche.ca Avalanche Canada’s clearinghouse for weather station data in Western Canada and along the Alaska border, including the White Pass.
Maps
Gaia GPS. Great app for pre-trip planning online and navigating in the field (students get a free trial and discount on a premium membership)
Google Earth. Still the gold standard for visualizing terrain for trips big and small and route planning/assessing avalanche terrain
Fatmap. Very powerful new 3D map app. Very useful for navigating in the field. Fun and highly recommend.
Google Maps. Powerful tool for free maps. Use the “Terrain” feature to see a topo map, as well as the satellite images.
Hillmap. See google’s satellite and topo map images side by side. Very useful.
Education Resources
Pre Course Resources:
Avalanche Canada Online Avalanche Tutorial
More Resources:
Navigation Course - Association of Canadian Mountain Guides
Rescue at Cherry Bowl. An interactive case study of an avalanche accident in Northern BC. One of Avalanche Canada’s crowning achievements in avalanche education. Great lessons on all contributing factors!
Throttle Decisions. Avalanche Canada video resources for mountain snowmachiners. Scroll down to find the Throttle Decisions videos.
ASARC and Bruce Jamieson Videos. Great series of videos on a large depth of topics relating to snow science and avalanche prediction. Some videos mostly on intermediate to advanced topics in snow science. Good for advanced recreationalists or any level of professional.