Avalanche forecast

Kootenay Boundary

Jan 29 – 30, 2017Avalanche Canada
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Avalanche danger

Mon
Tue
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

Watch for changing conditions at higher elevations as new wind slabs form.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–2
    Watch for pockets of wind slabs on exposed features near ridge crests and cross-loaded gullies. Expect increased sensitivity and wide propagations where slabs are poorly bonded to buried surface hoar or crusts.

Confidence

High - The weather pattern is stable

Weather Forecast

MONDAY: Cloudy, moderate west winds, alpine temperatures around -8 C.TUESDAY: Cloudy with isolated flurries and 2-4 cm of new snow, light winds, alpine temperatures around -10 C.WEDNESDAY: Sunny, light northeast winds, alpine temperatures around -14 C.

Avalanche Summary

No recent avalanches have been reported. With moderate to strong winds transporting snow in exposed terrain, expect fresh wind slabs on lee and crossloaded features.

Snowpack Summary

A variety of surface conditions exist including wind affected snow, sun crusts, shallowly buried surface hoar, and pockets of light snow. A total of 30-50 cm of settled storm snow now sits above a weak interface that was buried in mid-January. The interface is composed of weak facets, surface hoar, and/or sun crusts. The strength of this interface is variable, but has continued to give some sudden results and propagations in snowpack tests. Areas with thin snowpacks (e.g. less than 150 cm) have a generally weak snowpack structure with sugary facets near the ground. This includes shallow alpine slopes and most of the Rossland range. These deeper weaknesses warrant long term monitoring, as they could reawaken with a sudden change in the weather.

Regions covered