Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Dec 3rd, 2013 7:49AM

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

triley, Avalanche Canada

South Rockies.

Please note this bulletin is based on very limited information. If you have been out and have observations, please send them to forecaster@avalanche.ca.

Summary

Confidence

Poor - Due to the number of field observations

Weather Forecast

Cold and clear with Northeast winds for the entire forecast period. The cold arctic air continues to dive South into the weekend.

Avalanche Summary

No reports of avalanche activity. We suspect that the storm slab continues to be reactive to human triggers where it is sitting on a weak layer of buried surface hoar, facetted crystals, or crust.

Snowpack Summary

A storm slab has developed above the existing shallow weak snowpack. We don't know how deep the storm slab is due to a lack of observations from the field. I expect that there is 10-40 cm of new snow depending on your location in the region. This variability is due to the convective nature of the recent storm. The new storm slab is not expected to bond well to the old surface weak layers of crusts, wind slabs, and surface hoar.

Problems

Storm Slabs

Suspect that the storm slab has become stubborn to trigger. The storm slab is sitting above the recent surface weakness. No information about how deep this storm slab is or how variable it is.

The very touchy conditions require extreme caution if travelling in the mountains.>The new snow will require several days to settle and stabilize.>

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: All elevations.

Likelihood

Likely

Expected Size

2 - 5

Valid until: Dec 4th, 2013 2:00PM