Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Mar 14th, 2015 9:14AM

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

Avalanche Canada bcorrigan, Avalanche Canada

Careful terrain and route selection will be important for safe backcountry riding for the next few days.

Summary

Confidence

Fair - Due to the number and quality of field observations

Weather Forecast

The  Pacific cold front currently working its way across the Northwest Inland should have moved farther east and into the Rockies by Sunday morning. Upper elevations should receive 15 to 20 cm of snow along with moderate to strong SW winds. Freezing levels will have more seasonal values, rising during the  day to 1000m , then descending at night to the valley bottom. For more in-depth information see:http://www.avalanche.ca/weather

Avalanche Summary

Limited observations yesterday because of the intensity and low ceilings associated with the storm. One commercial operation, however,  produced impressive results with explosives and reported several size 1.5's,  2 size 2's, and one size 3 avalanche in the recent storm slab.

Snowpack Summary

The recent storm will have added additional load to the already reactive wind slabs in lee terrain at treeline and into the alpine. Snow and winds from earlier in the week have added size and destructive potential to the developing wind slab problem. There are a variety of interfaces including old wind slabs, hard crusts, surface hoar, and/or surface facets buried below the recent storm snow. At the base of the snowpack, weak facets may be found and could possibly be triggered with a big enough load such as a cornice failure. In other parts of the province there has been a surge in activity recently on old, buried weak layers that may be attributed to the rapid warming event that just occurred. Nevertheless, these old deeply buried layers could produce very large destructive avalanches if they are triggered. Cornices are now getting to be large and potentially unstable. Solar aspects are also a concern, especially in the afternoon.

Problems

Storm Slabs

An icon showing Storm Slabs
Large amounts of new snow have fallen in the past 36 hrs. Use caution in all avalanche terrain
Avoid all avalanche terrain during periods of heavy loading from new snow, wind, or rain.>The new snow will require several days to settle and stabilize.>

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

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Likely

Expected Size

1 - 4

Wind Slabs

An icon showing Wind Slabs
Strong winds associated with the recent storm will have built wind slabs in lee features
Be cautious as you transition into wind affected terrain.>Use ridges or ribs to avoid pockets of wind loaded snow.>Avoid steep slopes below cornices.>

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

Elevations: All elevations.

Likelihood

Possible - Likely

Expected Size

1 - 4

Valid until: Mar 15th, 2015 2:00PM