Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Dec 23rd, 2019 3:00PM

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

Avalanche Canada cgarritty, Avalanche Canada

Keep your guard up at higher elevations. Observations since the storm are limited and recently wind loaded areas remain a concern.

Summary

Confidence

High -

Weather Forecast

Monday night: Cloudy. Light southwest winds.

Tuesday: Cloudy with isolated flurries and a trace to 5 cm of new snow, continuing overnight. Alpine high temperatures around -5 with freezing levels to 700 metres.

Wednesday: Becoming sunny. Light northeast winds. Alpine high temperatures around -4 with freezing levels rising to 1000 metres.

Thursday: Mainly sunny. Light to moderate southwest winds. Alpine high temperatures around -3 with freezing levels to 700 metres.

Avalanche Summary

A widespread avalanche cycle occurred on Friday during the peak of the storm. Although natural avalanche activity has now likely decreased, the potential for human triggered avalanches in wind loaded areas at higher elevations remains a concern.

Snowpack Summary

Around 50 to 100 mm of precipitation fell at the end of last week. Above around 1200 m, this precipitation fell as 50-100 cm of snow. All this recent snow may take a few days to form a solid bond with the hard melt-freeze crust it buried.

Below around 1200 metres, rainfall over the same period has now refrozen and produced a crunchy melt-freeze crust on the surface.

Terrain and Travel

  • Be careful as you transition into wind affected terrain.
  • Carefully evaluate steep lines for wind slabs.

Problems

Wind Slabs

An icon showing Wind Slabs

The recent storm snow is likely stabilizing, but may remain reactive to human triggering above around 1200 m. Use extra caution on steep slopes near ridges, where snow may have been blown into deeper and more unstable wind slab deposits.

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

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

1 - 2

Valid until: Dec 24th, 2019 5:00PM

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