Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Feb 9th, 2024 4:00PM

The alpine rating is low, the treeline rating is low, and the below treeline rating is low. Known problems include Wind Slabs.

Avalanche Canada ejones, Avalanche Canada

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Use safe travel practices to enjoy the bit of new snow while avoiding wind-loaded features.

Summary

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

No recent avalanches have been reported. If you go into the backcountry this weekend, consider submitting a MIN report.

Several size 2 to 2.5 (large) natural wind slab avalanches and cornice failures were reported in the alpine, occurring more than 2 days ago.

Snowpack Summary

About 5 cm of snow is expected to be redistributed by west winds on Saturday.

The previous snow surface is heavily wind-affected in terrain exposed to the wind. Wind-sheltered terrain consists of 10 to 30 cm of settled dry snow, which sits on a thick and hard melt-freeze crust that extends into the alpine. The crust is at the snow surface at lower elevations.

The middle of the snowpack may contain old, weak faceted layers and hard crusts, which do not currently present a concern.

Weather Summary

Friday Night

Cloudy with up to 5 cm of snow. 40 to 60 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C.

Saturday

Cloudy with up to 3 cm of snow. 20 to 45 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.

Sunday

Cloudy with up to 5 cm of snow. 20 to 40 km/h southest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -8 °C.

Monday

Partly cloudy. 40 to 60 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -9 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Watch for wind-loaded pockets especially around ridgecrest and in extreme terrain.
  • Even a small avalanche can be harmful if it pushes you into an obstacle or a terrain trap.
  • Recent new snow may be hiding windslabs that were easily visible before the snow fell.

Problems

Wind Slabs

An icon showing Wind Slabs

Small pockets of wind slabs may exist in steep, wind-loaded terrain features at higher elevations. Watch for cross-loaded features.

Aspects: North, North East, East, South East, South, South West, North West.

Elevations: Alpine.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

1 - 1.5

Valid until: Feb 10th, 2024 4:00PM

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