Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Mar 2nd, 2015 8:00AM

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

jlammers, Avalanche Canada

Kootenay Boundary.

Convective flurries on Monday will result in highly variable snow accumulations throughout the region. Pay close attention to how much snow fell in you area, and choose terrain accordingly.

Summary

Confidence

Fair - Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain on Monday

Weather Forecast

Mainly clear skies are expected for the forecast period as a dry ridge rebuilds. Ridge top winds are expected to remain generally moderate from the northwest. Freezing levels are forecast to sit at valley bottom for Tuesday, and then rise to about 1300m on Wednesday and Thursday.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches have been reported in the past few days.

Snowpack Summary

Shady and sheltered slopes have around 5-10 cm of fresh low-density snow, with thin wind slabs forming in exposed lee terrain. Sun-exposed slopes likely have a thin sun crust on the surface. The most prominent feature in the snowpack is a thick crust, down 5-30 cm. This crust is supportive all the way to ridge crest and is effectively "capping" the snowpack, keeping riders from tickling any deeper weak layers. There are still weak layers below this crust that we'll continue to monitor, but for now these layers are dormant. We would likely need significant warming and/or heavy loading to re-activate them.

Problems

Wind Slabs

On Monday snowfall amounts throughout the region were highly variable. Combined with moderate winds, these accumulations could produce fresh wind slabs in exposed lee terrain. Loose dry avalanches may also be concern on steep sheltered slopes.

Use ridges or ribs to avoid pockets of wind loaded snow.>Be cautious of sluffing in steep terrain.>

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

1 - 2

Valid until: Mar 3rd, 2015 2:00PM