Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Feb 21st, 2024 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.
AB,
Avalanche Canada
Little change until the wind picks up on Friday, and snow on Saturday. Small isolated wind slabs are still present.
Summary
Confidence
Moderate
Avalanche Summary
Sunshine patrol reported triggering very small wind-slabs that were 10cm deep.
A skier triggered a size 1 slab on the far skiers right on the Surprise Pass ski run. It was 30cm deep and 8m wide and ran for 30m.
Snowpack Summary
Suncrust on steep solar aspects and moist snow below 2000m. Isolated wind slabs in the alpine. 10-25 cm of facetted snow over the Feb 3 crust. Persistent weak facet layers remain present in the mid and bottom of the snowpack.
Weather Summary
On Thursday, a mix of sun and cloud across the forecast region as moderate to strong moist, westerly flow continues. Trace accumulations are expected, except up to 2 cm for western-facing aspects. Freezing levels will rise to between 1600 and 1800m in the afternoon. Up to 15cm of snow is expected on the weekend.
For more information be sure to check AvCan's Mountain Weather.
Terrain and Travel Advice
- Avoid thin areas like rock outcroppings where you're most likely to trigger avalanches failing on deep weak layers.
Problems
Deep Persistent Slabs
Several persistent weak facet layers exist in the mid-pack and at the bottom of the snowpack. Sporadic avalanche activity continues on these layers and the theme seems to be rocky, steep, thin snowpack areas in the alpine.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Wind Slabs
Isolated wind-slabs exist in high alpine lee areas. Increased winds forecast for Friday may increase windslab development in the alpine.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Feb 22nd, 2024 4:00PM
