Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Jan 19th, 2017 4:08PM
The alpine rating is , the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is Known problems include Storm Slabs.
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Avalanche Canada
Conditions are primed for people triggering avalanches. Don't let the lure of deep powder draw you into terrain that's inappropriate for the conditions.
Summary
Confidence
High -
Weather Forecast
FRIDAY: Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries possible, light southeasterly wind and freezing level around 1200m.SATURDAY: Mainly cloudy with flurries in the afternoon bringing up to 5 cm, light southeasterly wind and freezing level around 1200m.SUNDAY: Mainly cloudy with flurries bringing another 5-10 cm, moderate southeasterly wind and freezing level around 1200m. More details can be found on the Mountain Weather Forecast.
Avalanche Summary
Reports from Wednesday include continued widespread natural slab avalanches up to Size 3 with crowns up to 80 cm thick. Reports from avalanche control on Thursday include widespread very touchy 40-50cm thick storm slab avalanches up to Size 2 running on a weakness within the recent storm snow, with remote triggers and widespread propagation. There were also a number of 1+m thick slab avalanches up to Size 2.5 running on the rain crust from Monday.
Snowpack Summary
Rapid snow and wind loading continues with fluctuating freezing levels creating storm snow weaknesses. By Thursday morning another 25 cm of new snow brought storm snow totals to 50-100cm, which has been redistributed by southerly winds. On Monday into Tuesday we had rain up to 2200m near Whistler, while in other zones like the upper Callaghan it was 35 cm or more of fresh snow. The rain (or snow high in the alpine) started to saturate and load a wide variety of previous surface conditions. Simply put, the upper snowpack is extremely variable with weaknesses within and under the recent storm snow.
Problems
Storm Slabs
New snow is bonding poorly to the previous snow surface. Expected avalanche likelihood and size to increase with increased snow and wind-loading. Slabs will be particulary deep and touchy on wind-loaded northerly aspects near ridge crests.
Avoid all avalanche terrain during periods of heavy loading from new snow, wind, or rain.Minimize overhead exposure during periods of heavy loading from new snow, wind.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: All elevations.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Jan 20th, 2017 2:00PM
