Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Babine, Howson, Hudson Bay, Kispiox, Microwave-Sinclair, North Bulkley, Northwest Inland, South Bulkley, Telkwa.
Use caution on steep, open slopes where buried weak layers may exist.Forecast temperatures are for extreme cold; check out this blog for tips on managing cold weather.
Confidence
High
Avalanche Summary
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.
Monday Near Kispiox, several size 1 to 1.5 persistent slabs were triggered by vehicles. These avalanches mainly occurred at treeline and failed on a weak layer of surface hoar.
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. At upper elevations, recent north and easterly winds have built wind slabs on south and westerly faces in the alpine.
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, but they've also been observed in some 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
Thursday Night
Skies clear overnight with no new snow, variable alpine wind 5-15 km/h, treeline temperatures drop to -35 ºC.
Friday
Mainly sunny with no new snow, variable alpine wind 10 - 20 km/h, treeline temperature high of -26 ºC.
Saturday
A mix of sun and cloud, no new snow, southeasterly alpine wind 5-10 km/h, treeline temperature high of -28 ºC.
Saturday
A mix of sun and cloud, no new snow, variable alpine wind 5-10 km/h, treeline temperature high of -21 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.
- Recent wind has varied in direction so watch for wind slabs on all aspects.
- Carefully assess open slopes and convex rolls where buried surface hoar may be preserved.
Avalanche Problems
Persistent Slabs
Several buried surface hoar layers may be found 35 to 70 cm deep. These layers are a problem at elevations above 1200 m. They do not seem to be an issue in the alpine on south through west faces.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: All elevations.
Likelihood: Possible
Expected Size: 1 - 2.5
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, North West.
Elevations: Alpine.
Likelihood: Likely
Expected Size: 1 - 1.5