Avalanche forecast

Northwest Inland

Feb 19 – 20, 2012Avalanche Canada
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Avalanche danger

Tue
Wed
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
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Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible - Likely
    Size
    1–2
    Increasing winds will redistribute surface snow into wind slabs on lee slopes. Winds will also add to the reactivity of thin slabs that overly buried surface hoar.

Confidence

Fair - Timing, track, or intensity of incoming weather is uncertain

Weather Forecast

Monday: About 10cm of new snow falling between late afternoon and early Tuesday morning / moderate southwest winds / freezing level @ 800m Tuesday: Moderate snowfall in the afternoon, continuing into Wednesday morning / moderate westerly winds / freezing level @ 800m Wednesday: Light to moderate snowfall in the morning easing off by mid-day / moderate to strong westerly winds / freezing level@ 400m

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches have been reported.

Snowpack Summary

About 15cm of snow that fell over the past week sits over a variety of old surfaces. These surfaces include: melt-freeze crusts that exist on all aspects at lower elevations and on south-facing slopes higher up, and well-settled powder on shaded aspects in the alpine. Weak surface hoar crystals (size 3-4mm) are sandwiched between the old surfaces and the newer snow and have recently shown easy compression test results. The distribution of the surface hoar seems to be up to treeline on all aspects and on sheltered features in the alpine. This upper snow pack structure will be the big thing to watch as the overlying slab develops. I expect to see gradually increasing reactivity in the surface hoar interface with incremental loading and higher winds forecast for this week. Check out our Forecaster's Blog for some insight on incremental loading. The mid and lower snowpack are generally well settled and strong.

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