Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Jan 14th, 2019 4:23PM

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

Avalanche Canada jfloyer, Avalanche Canada

Cooling temperatures will result in generally favourable conditions. Remain vigilant on steep wind affected slopes and slopes that are influenced by direct sun.

Summary

Confidence

High -

Weather Forecast

MONDAY NIGHT: Clear skies. Temperatures dropping to around -10C.TUESDAY: Dry and sunny above the valley cloud. Expect cool treeline temperatures, around -4C. Mostly calm winds.WEDNESDAY: Increasing cloud cover, but expected to stay dry. Treeline temperatures around -5C. Light southerly winds.THURSDAY: Light snowfall, 3-6 cm. Treeline temperatures around -5C. Light easterly winds.

Avalanche Summary

The warm up produced only limited amounts of avalanche activity, mostly small loose snow avalanches on sunny slopes. On Sunday a small wind slab was triggered on a southwest aspect and a size 2 cornice released on a north aspect.

Snowpack Summary

Recent warm and sunny weather at higher elevation has resulted in moist snow during the day on sunny aspects, freezing into a crust overnight. The snow has remained dry on north aspects slopes. Wind slabs are now old and hard to trigger. Cornices exist but are not unduly large. Still, they could still collapse during warm and/or sunny weather.The middle and lower portions of the snowpack are generally well-settled and strong. On southerly aspects you may find a thin sun crust with facets down around 55 cm. Recent sudden snowpack results on this layer indicate this could still be a failure plane on steep southerly slopes in thin snowpack areas. Professionals are also tracking a layer around 130 to 180 cm deep, composed of sugary faceted grains, feathery surface hoar, and a sun crust. The chance of triggering this layer is very low. In shallow snowpack areas, the base of the snowpack may also still be composed of weak faceted grains.

Problems

Wind Slabs

An icon showing Wind Slabs
Small pockets of wind slab could be triggered in steep, wind-affected terrain. Cornices may exist in places too.
Good conditions exist on most north-aspect slopes, except in areas where wind slabs exist.

Aspects: North, North East, East.

Elevations: Alpine.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

1 - 2

Valid until: Jan 15th, 2019 2:00PM