Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Feb 9th, 2014 4:29PM

The alpine rating is low, the treeline rating is low, and the below treeline rating is low. Known problems include Deep Persistent Slabs.

ian jackson, Parks Canada

Banff Yoho Kootenay.

A storm is on the horizon! If the storm comes early, the danger may rise earlier than forecast. Watch for local snowfall amounts in your area.

Summary

Weather Forecast

The jet stream is coming back over us and bringing westerly winds, precipitation and warmer temperatures! Precip is forecasted to start on Monday afternoon with up to 10 cm Monday overnight, then a lull on Tuesday before a bigger storm hits on Wed. Alpine temps will be -10/-15 and winds moderate to strong from the SW starting Monday PM.

Snowpack Summary

5-10 cm of facetted snow with variable wind effect sits on the spotty January 30th surface hoar. This will be the layer to watch as we get more snow. In the alpine, this snow sits on either firm windslabs or suncrusts. The basal facet/ depth hoar problem persists but is well bridged in deeper snowpack areas.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches have been observed or reported.

Confidence

Intensity of incoming weather systems is uncertain

Problems

Deep Persistent Slabs

The basal depth hoar, crust layer is dormant for now. Currently it is only possible to trigger this layer from extreme terrain in thin snowpack areas. This layer will likely become more reactive as we get some new snow loading it.

Be aware of thin areas that may propogate to deeper instabilites.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine.

Likelihood

Unlikely

Expected Size

2 - 2

Valid until: Feb 10th, 2014 4:00PM