Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Dec 12th, 2011 8:50AM
The alpine rating is Wind Slabs and Persistent Slabs.
, the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is Known problems includeSummary
Confidence
Fair - Intensity of incoming weather is uncertain
Weather Forecast
Tuesday & Wednesday: A weak ridge is giving a couple more dry days. Expect light westerly winds and daytime highs of -5 under clear skies or high cloud. Thursday: Clouds are likely to develop in the morning with a chance of light flurries throughout the day. Continued westerly winds with daytime temperatures climbing to -5.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches.
Snowpack Summary
3-5cm of new snow has fallen in the past couple of days. This overlies surface hoar (as large as 20mm in protected areas), surface facets, the odd old windslab and sun crusts (on steep south through west aspects). The new snow has fallen with limited winds effect. All of these newly buried surfaces are good sliding interfaces; all that's lacking is a large enough load. As more snow arrives and/or the wind picks up (as per the forecast) the avalanche danger will increase. Due to the slow, incremental increase in load (dribs and drabs of new snow and sporadic winds), this increase in danger is difficult to pinpoint and could be very site specific.In some locations there is a rain crust buried between 20-35cm. This crust extends as high as 2200m. Some faceting has been observed around the crust; definitely worth remembering this one.The early November surface hoar remains a layer of concern. Buried 100-150cm it is unlikely to trigger, but consequences of triggering would be a large (up to size 3.0) destructive avalanche.
Problems
Wind Slabs
Aspects: North, North East, East.
Elevations: Alpine.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Persistent Slabs
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Dec 13th, 2011 8:00AM