Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Jan 5th, 2017 4:19PM
The alpine rating is Wind Slabs.
, the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is Known problems include Watch for instabilities in new snow on Friday and don't let a small slide get the best of you.
Summary
Confidence
Moderate - Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain on Friday
Weather Forecast
Thursday night: Scattered flurries bringing approximately 4cm of new snow.Friday: Flurries delivering around 7cm of new snow. Winds moderate from the south. Freezing level rising to 400 metres with alpine temperatures to -4.Saturday: Cloudy with sunny periods and no new snow. Winds light to moderate from the east. Freezing level rising to 1200 metres with alpine temperatures of +1.Sunday: Mostly cloudy with isolated wet flurries and up to 5cm of new snow. Winds light gusting to strong from the southeast. Freezing level rising to 1500 metres with alpine temperatures of +3.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches have been reported.
Snowpack Summary
Cold temperatures and strong northerly winds over the past few days have left our snow surface a variable mix of faceted snow, wind crust, and wind slab. Approximately 95 cm of well-settled storm snow lies below this surface, the product of last week's series of storms. Earlier this week, the previously mentioned strong northerly winds that followed the storms redistributed loose storm snow into wind slabs behind exposed terrain features, mainly on south to west aspects. These wind slabs have gained considerable strength in recent days and remain a concern mainly in steep, unsupported terrain. Aside from possible wind slab instabilities in the upper snowpack, the mid and lower snowpack are considered to be well settled and stable.
Problems
Wind Slabs
Thin fresh wind slabs will form with forecast snowfall on Friday. Don't allow a small slide push you into or over a terrain trap.
Use ridges or ribs to avoid pockets of wind loaded snow.Avoid exposure to terrain traps where the consequences of a small avalanche could be serious.
Aspects: North, North East, East, South East, South.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Jan 6th, 2017 2:00PM