Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Jan 6th, 2013 10:06AM
The alpine rating is Storm Slabs.
, the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is Known problems includeSummary
Confidence
Fair - Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain for the entire period
Weather Forecast
Overnight and Monday: Flurries overnight becoming snow in the morning should bring a total of 15-20 cms. Southwest winds are expected to build to moderate with strong gusts during the morning snow fall. A second pulse of snow should start in the late afternoon or evening.Tuesday: Expect an additional 10-15 cms by late morning combined with strong Westerly winds. Alpine temperatures are expected to dip down to about -12.0.Wednesday: Another 10-15 cms of snow should fall during the day combined with strong Westerly winds.
Avalanche Summary
Some thin wind slabs continue to be released by skiers and riders. Surface sluffing continues in steep terrain.
Snowpack Summary
There have been variable (15-30 cms) snowfall amounts across the region. In some areas this new snow has been transported into wind slabs. The recent cold and dry weather has caused the surface snow to facet and become weakly bonded. There has also been some surface hoar growth, mostly at and below treeline that has resulted in a weak bond below the new snow. This weak bonding has resulted in dry loose snow sluffing out of steep terrain. Forecast new snow on top of this weak unconsolidated surface should continue to sluff easily. Steep solar exposed terrain developed a thin sun crust during the recent period of warm air at higher elevations. If the new storm snow develops into a consolidated slab above the weak surface layers and crusts, expect this slab to be easy to trigger by light additional loads. If the new snow is transported into a wind slab, expect those pockets of wind slab to be very reactive; they may fail naturally or be triggered from adjacent terrain.
Problems
Storm Slabs
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: All elevations.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Jan 7th, 2013 2:00PM