Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Dec 14th, 2014 8:28AM

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

swerner, Avalanche Canada

Northwest Coastal.

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Summary

Confidence

Fair - Due to the number of field observations

Weather Forecast

Mainly sunny and cool with some cloud later Monday. A series of weak storm systems will brush up against the coast and bring light snowfall amounts. Freezing levels near 600 m dropping to valley bottom by Wednesday. Outflow winds will persist.

Avalanche Summary

On Saturday explosive control triggered numerous storm slab avalanches size 2.5 at 1500 m on north aspects. A naturally triggered avalanche cycle was observed in response to last week's storm. At low elevations, many of these were wet and dug deep, failing to ground, up to size 2.5.

Snowpack Summary

Recent heavy rain affected southern parts of the region up to alpine elevations, while the far north remained drier and sports a weaker snowpack in general. Areas which previously received rain have probably now formed a hard frozen crust. High alpine and far northern areas are likely to have wind slabs and large fragile cornices. Deeper in the snowpack, weaknesses such as the mid-November crust-facet layer are still of concern to some operators.

Problems

Wind Slabs

Wind slabs may be found behind terrain breaks like ridges and ribs. In some areas, a slab could fail on a deeply buried weakness, creating a surprisingly large avalanche.

Caution around convexities or areas with a thin or variable snowpack.>Avoid recently wind loaded slopes by sticking to ridge crests or ribs. > Stay away from steep slopes below cornices.>

Aspects: North, North East, East, South East, South, South West.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

2 - 5

Valid until: Dec 15th, 2014 2:00PM