Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Jan 30th, 2014 8:05AM

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

triley, Avalanche Canada

South Coast.

30 cm of dry new snow in the South of the region may be reverse loaded by building Northerly winds. Watch for pockets of wind slab.

Summary

Confidence

Good

Weather Forecast

Overnight and Friday: A few more cm of snow above 500 metres elevation overnight. Mostly clear with no precipitation during the day. Alpine temperatures around -12 C. Light Northwest winds with strong Northerly outflow winds in large valleys.Saturday: Mix of sun and cloud with light Westerly winds and alpine temperatures around -10 C.Sunday: Mostly cloudy with very light precipitation and light Northwest winds. Alpine temperatures around -17 C.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches reported. Expect some sloughing from steep terrain.

Snowpack Summary

Up to 30 cm of new snow has fallen in the past 24 hours on the Southern inland highway passes. This new snow is sitting on a hard melt-freeze crust that developed after the recent record warm alpine temperatures. Warm temperatures at the beginning of the storm have created a good bond between the new snow and the crust; the new snow dried out as temperatures dropped during the storm and created a "right side up" snowpack. Reports from the Coquihalla tell us that there was a narrow band of surface hoar on North aspects below treeline before the new snow arrived. Only about 10 cm has fallen in the North of the region where more widespread surface hoar and near surface facetting was found before the thin layer of cold dry snow arrived.Â There continues to be a concern for deeply buried layers of weak facetted crystals, this is mostly a concern on slopes with a shallow and variable snowpack in the Duffey Lake and Chilcotin areas.

Problems

Wind Slabs

Dry light new snow may be reverse loaded onto Southerly aspects by the developing Northerly winds.

Avoid freshly wind loaded features.>

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

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Possible - Likely

Expected Size

1 - 3

Deep Persistent Slabs

Deeply buried weak layers of facetted crystals continue to be a concern on slopes with a shallow snowpack.

Be aware of the potential for large, deep avalanches.>Avoid convexities or areas with a thin or variable snowpack.>

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Unlikely

Expected Size

3 - 6

Valid until: Jan 31st, 2014 2:00PM