Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Jan 12th, 2024 4:00PM
The alpine rating is , the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is Known problems include Wind Slabs and Persistent Slabs.
mhalik,
Avalanche Canada
Use caution when transitioning into wind-loaded terrain.The extreme cold temperatures are forecast to linger for a couple more days; check out this blog for tips on managing cold weather.
Summary
Confidence
High
Avalanche Summary
Friday Ski tourers near Hudson Bay Mountain felt whumpfing and saw a few small naturally triggered wind slabs in the alpine out of south-facing slopes.
Wednesday The field team experienced shooting cracks ski cutting a wind-loaded southwest-facing alpine slope. They also saw several small wind slabs on similar slopes that were a few days old. More details HERE.
Tuesday The field team experienced whumpfing on a north-facing ridge near Hazelton.
Snowpack Summary
A new layer of surface hoar is growing on the surface. 15 to 20 cm of recent storm snow is sitting on a rain crust up to 1650 m. In the alpine recent wind slabs have built on south and westerly faces.
Two or more preserved surface hoar layers can be found buried between 35 and 70 cm deep. These layers are most prominent at treeline and below treeline elevations, above 1200 m. They've also been observed in north and east-facing alpine locations.
Snowpack depths at treeline vary across the region with generally deeper amounts (150 to 120 cm) west of the highway, and shallower (50 to 90 cm) to the east.
Weather Summary
Friday Night
Skies mostly clear overnight with no new snow, variable alpine wind 5-15 km/h, treeline temperatures drop to -31 ºC.
Saturday
Partially cloudy, no new snow, southeasterly alpine wind 5-10 km/h, treeline temperature high of -25 ºC.
Sunday
A mix of sun and cloud, no new snow, westerly alpine wind 10-25 km/h, treeline temperature high of -20 ºC.
Monday
Cloudy, no new snow, southwest alpine wind 5-10 km/h, treeline temperature high of -11 ºC.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
Terrain and Travel Advice
- Look for signs of instability: whumphing, hollow sounds, shooting cracks, and recent avalanches.
- Carefully evaluate steep lines for wind slabs.
Problems
Wind Slabs
Recent north and easterly winds have built wind slabs in atypical places in the alpine.
Aspects: East, South East, South, South West, West.
Elevations: Alpine.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Persistent Slabs
Several buried surface hoar layers may be found 35 to 70 cm deep. These layers exist at elevations above 1200 m and do not seem to be an issue in the alpine on south and west faces.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: All elevations.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Jan 13th, 2024 4:00PM
