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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 8th, 2021–Feb 9th, 2021

Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Little Yoho.

!! Avalanche Control is planned on Mt Whymper in Kootenay National Park on Tuesday Feb. 9th. No access to this area on Tuesday !!

Extreme cold in the region: Be prepared, plan short trips in the sun and don't have an accident in this cold!

Weather Forecast

Cold and clear with an Extreme Cold Warning for the region. Overnight low temperatures reaching -30 on Monday night and only slightly warmer on Tuesday. Thankfully, alpine winds are light although increasing into moderate from the NW on Tuesday. Long range temperature outlook is a little more reasonable for the weekend.

Snowpack Summary

Previous winds from all directions have redistributed the recent 30-60cm of low density storm snow into wind slab in the alpine and exposed areas at tree line. In sheltered areas the recent storm snow remains loose powder. Buried sun crust and facets on steep south aspects. Treeline snow depths range from 150-220cm.

Avalanche Summary

Evidence of recent cornice failures and loose dry avalanches in steep alpine terrain in Kootenay today. Also of note, last week there were three avalanches up to size 1.5 reported on south aspects below treeline. These failed on a suncrust buried 30-40 deep. We believe this problem is isolated and trending unreactive but may still exist

Confidence

Due to the number of field observations

Problems

Wind Slabs

Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.