Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Dec 14th, 2019 4:00PM
The alpine rating is , the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is Known problems include Deep Persistent Slabs and Wind Slabs.
snow safety,
Parks Canada
Basal facets, crusts and depth hoar are found in many places. Use caution if you're heading into committing terrain, as it's a bit of a gamble whether you will trigger a slope, these layers are hard to predict.
Summary
Weather Forecast
The light Northwesterly flow will bring slightly coolers temps and start a clearing trend. We will see a mix of sun and cloud on Sunday and an alpine high of -14 with light westerly winds. Expect short periods of snow flurries, but no significant snow accumulations until midweek.
Snowpack Summary
Pockets of wind slab linger in alpine areas. Beneath the recent 40-60cm of storm snow, the snowpack structure is generally weak, consisting of facets and depth hoar. The Nov crust is present up to 2500m and ~30 cm up from ground. In areas with a deeper snowpack (Tak Falls, Stanley Mitchell, Ogden, etc.) the basal weakness is less pronounced.
Avalanche Summary
No new natural avalanche activity for the past two days, though explosive avalanche control at the local ski areas have produced results up to size 2 recently, with some stepping down to the Nov crust layer.
Confidence
Problems
Deep Persistent Slabs
The recent snow sits over weak facet and crust layers. As time goes on the chance of triggering is becoming less likely, but there is lots of uncertainty as to where you could trigger an avalanche and what it will take to get it moving.
- Be aware of thin areas that may propogate to deeper instabilites.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Wind Slabs
Variable wind slab development from two days ago persists, mainly in the alpine but also in some wind exposed treeline features. These are losing sensitivity to human triggering but will need a few days to settle out completely.
- Caution on open steep slopes at treeline that have been exposed to wind loading.
- Use caution in lee areas. Recent wind loading has created slabs over weaker snow.
Aspects: North, North East, East, South East.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Dec 15th, 2019 4:00PM
