Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Dec 18th, 2019 5:00PM
The alpine rating is , the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is Known problems include Wind Slabs and Persistent Slabs.
dsaly,
Avalanche Canada
Triggering an avalanche is most likely in wind affected terrain and steep, rocky slopes.
Summary
Confidence
No Rating - Uncertainty is due to the limited number of field observations.
Weather Forecast
Wednesday Night: Mostly cloudy. Alpine temperature -10 C. Southwest wind 25-35 km/hr.
Thursday: Flurries, trace to 5 cm. Alpine temperature -6 C. Southwest wind 20-35 km/hr.
Friday: Snow, heavy at times 20-30 cm. Alpine temperature -3 C. Southwest wind 20-40 gusting to 80 km/hr. Freezing level rising to 1900 m.
Saturday: Continued flurries, 5-15 cm. Alpine temperature -2 C. Southwest wind 30 gusting to 75 km/hr. Freezing level 1600 m.
Avalanche Summary
Explosives triggered 2 small (size 1) wind slabs on Wednesday. A few small (size 1) natural avalanches were noted around the Castle area on Tuesday and skiers reported fresh wind slabs cracking underfoot.
Snowpack Summary
Wind has scoured exposed terrain and formed wind slabs in the alpine, and around lee features and lower into start zones.
The bottom half of the snowpack consists of crusts from November and October and basal facets. These persistent weak layers produced large avalanches over a week ago but have since gained strength. Overall, a shallow and variable snowpack is found around the region. Snowpack depths range between 50-100 cm around treeline and taper rapidly below.
Problems
Wind Slabs
Wind has redistributed recent snow, scouring exposed slopes and forming wind slabs around lee features.
Aspects: North, North East, East, South East, South.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Persistent Slabs
The likelihood of triggering a large avalanche on one of the crusts and weak layers in the lower snowpack is gradually reducing, but the consequence of doing so is high.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Dec 19th, 2019 5:00PM
