Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Mar 9th, 2020 5:00PM

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

Avalanche Canada MBender, Avalanche Canada

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Yukon.

New snow accumulating Sunday night and Monday arrived with moderate southerly wind. This new snow is now obscuring previous widespread wind effect. As a result wind slabs will continue to be the main concern.

Summary

Confidence

Moderate - Uncertainty is due to the limited number of field observations.

Weather Forecast

MONDAY Night: Cloudy with scattered flurries, accumulation 2-5 cm. Light to moderate southwest wind. Alpine temperature around -8. 

TUESDAY: Cloudy with scattered flurries, accumulation 2-5 cm. Light west wind. Alpine temperature around -7.

WEDNESDAY: Cloudy with isolated flurries. Light north wind. Alpine temperature around -12.

THURSDAY: Mainly sunny. Light to moderate north wind. Alpine temperature around -18.

Avalanche Summary

There are no new reports of avalanche activity over the past few days.

Reports from late last week include natural avalanches reaching the Klondike highway during the wind event and start zones were reloading Thursday. 

Snowpack Summary

Approximately 5-15 cm of new snow fell on Monday and has been redistributed by primarily southerly winds. This snow now obscures widespread wind effect from last week's extreme wind event. The distribution, size and depth of slabs from that event is highly variable. There may be lingering wind slabs in areas we traditionally think of as sheltered.

At White Pass the snowpack is roughly 200 cm thick with a strong mid and lower snowpack. Thin snowpack areas further inland may have a shallower snowpack composed of sugary faceted grains. Lower elevations have a melt freeze crust near the surface.

Terrain and Travel

  • Avoid freshly wind loaded features, especially near ridge crests, roll-overs and in steep terrain.
  • Watch for areas of hard wind slab on alpine features.
  • Use extra caution around cornices: they are large, fragile, and can trigger slabs on slopes below.
  • Seek out sheltered terrain where new snow hasn't been wind-affected.

Problems

Wind Slabs

An icon showing Wind Slabs

New snow from Sunday night and Monday combined with moderate southerly winds has promoted new wind slab formation in the lee of terrain features. This new snow is obscuring wind slabs that formed on all aspects and elevations during a wind event late last week.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Possible - Likely

Expected Size

1 - 2

Valid until: Mar 11th, 2020 2:00PM

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