Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Dec 19th, 2016 4:22PM

The alpine rating is high, the treeline rating is high, and the below treeline rating is considerable. Known problems include Storm Slabs.

mbender, Avalanche Canada

South Coast Inland.

There is a wide variation between forecast snowfall amounts and temperatures in the north and south of the region. Danger ratings as seen here are for anticipated higher snowfall and warmer temperatures anticipated in the south.

Summary

Confidence

Moderate - Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain on Tuesday

Weather Forecast

Tuesday: Snow Monday night into Tuesday, accumulation in the north 10-20cm and in the south 20-30cm / Moderate to strong southwest wind / Alpine temperature -4 in the north and -1 in the southWednesday: Mainly cloudy with flurries / Moderate to strong southwest wind / Alpine temperature -8 in the north and -4 in the southThursday: Periods of snow / Moderate to strong southwest wind / Alpine temperature -5

Avalanche Summary

Expect avalanche activity to stay on the rise with continued new snowfall accumulating Monday night through into Tuesday combined with moderate to strong wind and warming temperatures.

Snowpack Summary

30-50cm new snow overlies the previous variable snow surface from last week, which includes hard wind pressed or scoured areas, old wind slabs, weak faceted snow, or surface hoar. New wind slabs that have formed in response to southwest winds. In the Duffey Lake area, recent snowpack tests gave moderate sudden planar results down 36 cm on buried surface hoar. The widespread mid-November crust is typically down approximately 1 metre. Recent snowpack tests have shown the crust to be unreactive, but it could become a problem in shallow alpine start zones.

Problems

Storm Slabs

Continued new snow accumulation over the past 2 days combined with moderate to strong southwest winds have created slabs on top of a variety of potential weak sliding layers.

Minimize exposure during periods of heavy loading from new snow and wind.Use ridges or ribs to avoid pockets of wind loaded snow.Avoid exposure to terrain traps where the consequences of a small avalanche could be serious.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: All elevations.

Likelihood

Possible - Likely

Expected Size

1 - 3

Valid until: Dec 20th, 2016 2:00PM