Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Feb 21st, 2020 4:00PM

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

Avalanche Canada mmueller, Avalanche Canada

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Tomorrow will be similar to today weather wise. It could be worth sneaking in a longer day. Sunday may bring us some much needed snow.

Summary

Confidence

High -

Weather Forecast

Temperatures will dip slightly tonight to -10 and warm up to -6 for tomorrow afternoon. Most of the day will be cloudy, but as evening approaches there will be a clearing trend. Temperatures will also fall to -20! No significant snow is expected tomorrow, but Sunday might bring some snow. Winds will continue to be gusty (up to 50km/hr) tomorrow and they'll be out of the SW.

Avalanche Summary

Nothing seen today.

Snowpack Summary

Variable winds have stripped many ridge lines and made for windslabs of varying thicknesses in open areas at treeline and above. In most areas these slabs sit on a solid midpack ranging in thickness from 50cm to well over a meter. And, as expected the deep layers are still with us and still concerning for large triggers. The crusts from past warm weather spells are still apparent in valley bottoms, but generally not a problem.

Terrain and Travel

  • Caution around convexities or sharp changes in terrain.

Problems

Wind Slabs

An icon showing Wind Slabs

Variable depth and density of wind slabs throughout the Alpine. These are most concerning in steep, convex and unsupported terrain.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Unlikely - Possible

Expected Size

1 - 2.5

Deep Persistent Slabs

An icon showing Deep Persistent Slabs

This is a classic "low probability, high consequence" problem. While it is difficult to trigger, resulting avalanches will be very large. Use caution in shallow snowpack areas where triggering is more of a concern.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Unlikely

Expected Size

1.5 - 3

Valid until: Feb 22nd, 2020 4:00PM

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