Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Feb 2nd, 2012 9:28AM
The alpine rating is Wind Slabs, Storm Slabs and Cornices.
, the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is Known problems includeSummary
Confidence
Good - -1
Weather Forecast
There is a band of warm air at higher elevations that may keep temperatures in the alpine quite warm overnight; probably about -3.0 at 2500 metres. Clear skies should allow the valleys to get slightly below freezing. Friday is expected to be warm with light southerly winds and mostly sunny skies. Temperatures should drop to near freezing in the valley bottoms overnight. Light upslope precipitation is expected to bring trace amounts of snow on Saturday. Sunday is expected to be mostly clear with light winds and freezing levels up to about 1200 metres.
Avalanche Summary
Some sloughing from steep shaded aspects in the alpine to size 1.0. Also, moist surface snow releases up to size 1.0 on solar aspects.
Snowpack Summary
Recent strong southerly winds have created soft windslabs in the alpine and at treeline that are settling and bonding due to the warm temperatures. Pockets of dry snow in the alpine may become active with the initial warming. Some sun crust is developing on steep solar aspects. Shallow rocky areas continue to be a concern due to the formation of weak buried facets. Surface instabilities, cornice releases, or other large loads may trigger deep buried weak layers; this is a low probability, high consequence situation.
Problems
Wind Slabs
Aspects: North, North East, East.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Storm Slabs
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: All elevations.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Cornices
Aspects: North, North East, East, South East.
Elevations: Alpine.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Feb 3rd, 2012 3:00AM