Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Dec 5th, 2019 5:00PM

The alpine rating is considerable, the treeline rating is moderate, and the below treeline rating is moderate.

Avalanche Canada dsaly, Avalanche Canada

Flurries and snow will add to developed wind slabs. Expect to find reactive pockets round ridges and lee features, especially if areas accumulate more than 15 cm new snow.

Summary

Confidence

Moderate - Uncertainties in both the snowpack structure and the weather forecast limit our confidence.

Weather Forecast

Thursday night: Cloudy with isolated flurries, trace to 5 cm. Alpine temperature -6 C, southwest wind 10-20, gusting to 40 km/hr.

Friday: Cloudy with isolated flurries, trace to 10 cm. Alpine temperature -2 C, south-southwest wind 15-30 km/h.

Saturday: Scattered flurries, 5-15 cm. Alpine temperature -6, southwest wind 15-25 km/hr.

Sunday: Cloudy with sunny breaks. Alpine temperature -10, north wind 15-25km/hr.

Avalanche Summary

Explosives triggered a size 2 storm slab avalanche and several size 1-1.5 wind slab avalanches on Wednesday, mostly on northerly alpine features. 

Snowpack Summary

10-25 cm of new snow accumulated in the north early this week with smaller amounts around Panorama and south. Westerly winds have redistributed new snow into lee features and cross-loaded terrain. The new snow has covered surface hoar in sheltered areas and various wind-affected surfaces elsewhere.

Prior to the new snow, cold temperatures faceted the upper snowpack, a layer of 15-40 cm of wind-affected snow. This old, wind-affected snow sits over a crust on solar aspects in the alpine and a surface hoar/crust combination around treeline. This layer, down 25-45 cm, may only be found in the northern areas of the region, or areas with a relatively deeper snowpack.

Further down, several early season crusts are found in a highly variable snowpack across the region, with depths ranging from 10-110 cm. These crusts have begun faceting out and the base of the snowpack consists of facets and depth hoar. Expect to find weak facets (sugary, cohesion-less snow) in thin, shallow areas, around rocks, and at the bottom of the snowpack.

Valid until: Dec 6th, 2019 5:00PM