Avalanche forecast

Northwest Inland

Feb 27 – 28, 2012Avalanche Canada
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Avalanche danger

Wed
Thu
Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
3 · Considerable
Below
3 · Considerable
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Highlights

The snowpack is tricky to predict at the moment. Backcountry travel requires local knowledge, extensive experience and training. Please read the new Forecaster's Blog Post.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely - Very Likely
    Size
    1–5
    Increasing winds have formed wind slabs on lee slopes and terrain features. Expect to see more widespread loading due to changing winds.

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    1–5
    The new snow has consolidated into a storm slab over the persistent weaknesses. Storm slabs linger as an avalanche problem in areas where they overlie buried crusts, facetted snow, old wind slabs, and/or sheltered areas with buried surface hoar.

Confidence

Fair - Due to variable snowpack conditions

Weather Forecast

Tuesday: Mainly unsettled conditions, few flurries. Ridgetop winds 35km/hr from the South. Treeline temperatures near -10. Wednesday: Light snow amounts near 5cm. Ridgetop winds 30km/hr from the South. Treeline temperatures near -12. Thursday: Isolated flurries. Ridgetop winds 20km/hr from the West. Treeline temperatures near -8.

Avalanche Summary

Recent report of natural icefall occurred on the Loft Glacier, triggering a size 2.5 slab avalanche. Natural avalanches to size 2.0 and rider triggered to 1.5 have also been reported. Isolated areas with no wind effect, and steeper terrain features the new storm snow is sluffing.

Snowpack Summary

Up to 30 cm of new snow fell over the weekend. This adds to the previous storm snow, with 45-60 cm being an average amount over the mid February layers. Recent, intermittent clear skies have created a sun crust on south facing terrain into the alpine.The mid February layers are a strong melt freeze crust at lower elevations (below 1000m) and wind effected snow higher in the alpine while between these elevations, the interface varies wildly from facets, surface hoar, sun crust or wind press. The surface hoar is not widespread but is responsible for much of the recent avalanche activity. With the additional wind loading, pockets as deep as 70cm are possible on lee features. To compound the wind slab issue, recent winds have been northerly, building reactive slabs on south facing terrain features. The mid and lower snowpack is generally well settled and strong.

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