Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Feb 1st, 2019 9:00AM
The alpine rating is , the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is Known problems include Storm Slabs.
Bill Phipps,
Summary
Travel & Terrain Advice
Avoid all travel in avalanche terrain when the danger ratings are high. Extreme caution, very careful snowpack evaluation, conservative decision making and cautious route finding are a must when traveling in terrain at a considerable danger rating.
Avoid wind loaded aspects and cross-loaded features at all elevation bands during and after the storm Thursday night into Friday. Give the new snow time to bond and settle to the old surface before getting GNAR dude!
Study the bond of the new snow to the crust it will fall on.
Avalanche Summary
A few lose wet avalanches up to size one and some pinwheeling on steep slopes were observed as our spring conditions persisted over the past three days.
Snowpack Summary
Well enough with the spring skiing already! Bring back the winter.
Snowpack Details
Surface: A thin crust has formed on solar aspects, freezing overnight and melting during the day. Upper: 20-50 cm of moist snow bonding well to a thick buried crust. Mid: well settled. Lower: well settled
Past Weather
The very warm temperatures have slowly begun to drop to normal over the past three days. Winds have been calm to light from the SW. There has been no new snow fall but the mountains did see a very light drizzle of rain Thursday.
Weather Forecast
Friday: 20 to 50 cm of new snowfall, temp around 0 degrees, winds strong SW overnight Thursday easing to moderate SW during the day Friday, freezing level around 1200 m. Saturday: 0 to 3 cm of new snow, temp dropping to -6 to -9, winds light NW-SW, freezing level 800-300 m. Sunday: 2 to 10 cm of new snow, temps taking a big dip -9 to -11, winds light SE, freezing level down to sea level. Brrr!
Problems
Storm Slabs
Thursday into Fridays snow storm will load the crust that has formed over our spring fling from the past week. The bond to this crust will most likely be poor in the treeline and alpine (in the below treeline warmer temps may help create a better/stronger bonding process). We can expect storm slab avalanches up to size 2-2.5 at treeline and in the alpine with human triggering likely to very likely, especially on NE to NW lee slopes where the strong winds will significantly transport even more snow.
Aspects: North, North East, North West.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Feb 3rd, 2019 5:00PM
