Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Nov 30th, 2015 7:18AM

The alpine rating is considerable, the treeline rating is moderate, and the below treeline rating is low. Known problems include Storm Slabs.

pgoddard, Avalanche Canada

Sea To Sky.

Changing conditions: snow and strong winds are making a good recipe for avalanches.

Summary

Confidence

Fair - Due to the number of field observations

Weather Forecast

A series of low pressure systems is forecast to bring heavy precipitation, strong southerly winds and rising freezing levels. On Tuesday, 10-20 cm snow is expected. Overnight, another 20-30 cm is forecast, before a lull on Wednesday. On Wednesday night and Thursday, a possible atmospheric river is expected to bring 40-60 mm of precipitation with the freezing level rising to around 1900 m. Winds are strong to gale from the south. For more details check out avalanche.ca/weather

Avalanche Summary

No recent avalanches have been reported.

Snowpack Summary

Forecast storm snow is likely to build slabs, which may bond poorly to the current cornucopia of surfaces including hard slabs, crusts, facets and surface hoar. The snowpack is highly variable across different aspects and elevations. There is anywhere from 30-150 cm on the ground. Previous northerly outflow winds scoured upwind slopes back to a firm crust, and created wind slabs on lee aspects, which are gradually gaining strength. Shallow snowpack areas are rotten (facetted).

Problems

Storm Slabs

Snow and wind are likely to build slabs on a variety of slopes. I expect the size and likelihood of these to increase throughout the week.

Be alert to conditions that change with elevation and use a cautious approach to terrain while gathering information along the way.>Watch for whumpfing, hollow sounds, shooting cracks or recent avalanches.>Be cautious as you transition into wind affected terrain.>

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Likely

Expected Size

1 - 3

Valid until: Dec 1st, 2015 2:00PM