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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Dec 2nd, 2014–Dec 3rd, 2014

Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Kootenay Boundary.

Riding north of Nelson? Take a look at the South Columbia forecast. Please email your observations to [email protected]

Confidence

Poor - Due to the number of field observations

Weather Forecast

Synopsis: Fairly static weather pattern for another few days. It looks like the dry and cold northwest flow will be replaced by moist and warm southwest flow on Saturday. Wednesday: Freezing Level: Valley Bottom; Precipitation: Nil; Wind: Treeline: Light, Variable | Ridgetop: Light, SW Thursday: Freezing Level: Valley Bottom; Precipitation: 0-2mm | 0-4cm; Wind: Treeline: Light, Variable | Ridgetop: Light, SWFriday: Freezing Level: 500m; Precipitation: 0-6mm | 0-8cm; Wind: Treeline: Light, SW | Ridgetop: Moderate, SW

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanche activity to report.

Snowpack Summary

This forecast is based off a very small data set. Here's the best information I can offer:The snowpack north of Nelson is a different beast than the rest of the forecast region. If you're recreating north of Nelson, the South Columbia forecast does a better job of describing the more complex snowpack and the associated Persistent Slab Problem. In the north it appears that two buried weak layers may be problematic: The mid November surface hoar/facet/crust combo down 70 - 90 cm and the weak sugary snow (large facets) near the ground.In the southern portion of the region reports indicate that a weakness is not present near the ground. The Black Friday rain to cold snow storm left 10 - 25 cm of snow on top of a supportive 20 cm thick crust.

Problems

Storm Slabs

Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.

Persistent Slabs

Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.