Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Little Yoho.
Pay attention to solar warming as the sun comes out over the next few days. Stay out of the big terrain unless you've got the luck of the Irish! Happy St. Patricks Day!
Weather Forecast
Clearing skies in the forecast starting on Thursday. This should bring about a more spring-like diurnal pattern of daytime warming on solar aspects and cold overnight temperatures. Winds should be light throughout the period.
Snowpack Summary
40 - 60cm of recent, dry storm snow overlies a well settled mid and lower pack. This new snow has formed slabs that overlie several suncrusts on S and W aspects and may bond poorly in some areas. No significant shears found in the mid and lower pack, however thin snowpack areas are still suspect.
Avalanche Summary
More avalanche control today on the sunshine road produced numerous large avalanches stepping down to ground on 5 of 8 shots. These were in thin, windloaded alpine areas on all aspects and show that the deeper weak layers are still reactive. Additionally, cornices were large and easily triggered.
Confidence
Due to the number of field observations
Avalanche Problems
Persistent Slabs
Now that the sun is higher in the sky, buried suncrust becomes more of a problem. Presently there are several crusts buried on S through E aspects, with 30-70 cm overlying them.
- Dig down to find and test weak layers before committing to a line.
Aspects: North, North East, East, South East, South.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Possible
Expected Size: 2 - 3
Cornices
Cornices are large and fragile right now. Numerous have been triggered by explosives and skiiers in the last few days and most have triggered slabs on the slopes below. Heads up as the sun destabilizes them further over the next few days.
- Give cornices a wide berth when travelling on or below ridges.
- Avoid slopes when the solar radiation is strong, especially if they have large cornices overhead.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine.
Likelihood: Possible
Expected Size: 1 - 3