Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Apr 12th, 2015 3:00PM

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

Avalanche Canada Peter, Avalanche Canada

There is little or no new information about snow and avalanche conditions in the region. Check out this blog post for more information on a cool and snowy spring scenario.

Summary

Confidence

Poor - Due to the number of field observations

Weather Forecast

Monday: Cloudy with a chance of flurries. The freezing level bumps up to 2000 m. Winds are moderate gusting strong from the S-SW. Tuesday: Periods of snow – around 5-15 cm. The freezing level lowers to 1500-1600 m and wind shift to the W-NW. Wednesday: A mix of sun and cloud. The freezing level rises to 1800 m during the day and winds are light.

Avalanche Summary

Only minor pinwheeling and loose snow slides have been observed in the past couple days. Observations are becoming more limited as we enter into spring. If you're out in the mountains, please consider posting your observations to our webpage using the Mountain Information Network.

Snowpack Summary

Melt-freeze surface conditions exist on sun-exposed slopes. On shaded slopes, 10-20cm of recent snow overlies a thick supportive melt-freeze crust. At higher elevations these accumulations have been blown into  thin wind slabs, primarily on N-NE aspects. The mid-March crust/facet complex is buried around 50cm below the surface. This layer is generally considered dormant, although it could be reactivated in isolated terrain by prolonged warm temperatures. The mid and lower snowpack are strong and well settled.

Problems

Wind Slabs

An icon showing Wind Slabs
New snow may get blown into fresh wind slabs on the immediate lee of ridge lines and other terrain breaks.
Be cautious as you transition into wind affected terrain.>Use ridges or ribs to avoid pockets of wind loaded snow.>

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

Elevations: Alpine.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

1 - 3

Valid until: Apr 13th, 2015 2:00PM

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