Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Jan 5th, 2016 8:53AM
The alpine rating is , the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is Known problems include Storm Slabs.
esharp,
Avalanche Canada
There is quite a bit of variation in snowfall amounts across the region, Avalanche danger will be higher than forecast in areas where more than 25cm of new snow is sitting above the layer of recently buried surface hoar.
Summary
Confidence
Low - Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain
Weather Forecast
Forecast precipitation amounts and freezing levels vary greatly between different weather models. Wednesday could see storm snow accumulations of up to 15cm with light southerly winds and freezing levels around 1400m. Another 10cm may fall on Thursday with only isolated flurries currently forecast for Friday. Winds will be light and variable before swinging around to the North at the end of the week as freezing levels fall again in front of a descending Artic air mass.
Avalanche Summary
Avalanche activity has been limited to small loose snow avalanches running in the upper snowpack.
Snowpack Summary
Recent snowfall amounts have been highly variable across the region. Up to 15cm of new snow fell around Rossland while Nelson and Kootenay Pass received less than 5cm. Warm temperatures and moderate southerly winds on Tuesday encouraged the formation of soft slabs in wind loaded features especially in the Southwest of the region. The new snow is covering a widespread layer of surface hoar. This weak layer overlies a melt-freeze crust on solar aspects, old wind slabs in exposed higher elevation terrain and loose facets in sheltered areas. About 50 cm below the surface, the mid-December interface can be found which consists of surface hoar and/or a sun crust. The early December rain crust can be found about 20 cm below that, up to an elevation of 1400m. Both of these layers are thought to be gaining strength and are no longer reacting to snowpack tests except in isolated locations. The snowpack below these layers is generally strong and well-settled.
Problems
Storm Slabs
The recent storm snow is sitting on a layer of buried surface hoar and touchy conditions are expected where the snow it is deep enough to form a slab. This problem may be widespread or confined to wind loaded features depending on where you are.
Avoid open slopes and convex rolls.>Stay off recent wind loaded areas until the slope has had a chance to stabilize.>
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Jan 6th, 2016 2:00PM
