Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Feb 11th, 2017 3:39PM

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

mgrist, Avalanche Canada

South Coast.

Fresh storm slabs formed at treeline and above. Use small slopes with low consequence to test the bond of the storm snow.

Summary

Confidence

Moderate - Due to the number of field observations

Weather Forecast

Seasonal temperatures and isolated flurries through the weekend. Significant warming Monday onwards. SUNDAY: Mix of sun and cloud / Light, southwesterly winds / Freezing level rising to 1500 m by late afternoon. MONDAY: Sunny with cloudy periods, warming significantly with highs to +5 CelsiusÂ / Moderate southeasterly winds / Freezing level around 2700 m. TUESDAY: Mostly cloudy with spotty showers / High temperatures to +7 CelsiusÂ / Light, southwesterly winds/ Freezing level around 2500 m.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches reported.

Snowpack Summary

We've had 15-25cm of (wet heavy) snow at treeline on Thursday into Friday, all sitting on 20-30 cm drier snow. This makes 50-70 cm of cumulative storm snow which is bonding well to a knife hard crust buried Feb 3rd. In the alpine, where all of the precipitation has fallen as snow, the storm slabs will remain touchy and possible to human trigger on Sunday. The mid and lower snowpack are settled and well bonded with the average snowpack depth at treeline 250-300 cm.

Problems

Storm Slabs

Treeline and above will have small storm slabs (in some places sitting on a crust). Storm slabs in the alpine will be much larger and possibly more reactive than shown here, especially on northerly aspects.

Use caution in lee areas in the alpine and treeline. Storm snow will form slabs.Use small slopes with low consequence to test the bond of the storm snow at treeline and below.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

1 - 2

Valid until: Feb 12th, 2017 2:00PM