Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Mar 14th, 2014 11:09AM
The alpine rating is Deep Persistent Slabs, Persistent Slabs and Storm Slabs.
, the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is Known problems includeSummary
Confidence
Fair - Timing, track, or intensity of incoming weather system is uncertain
Weather Forecast
Synopsis: Sunny skies are great and all, but we're transitioning back into winter this weekend. Saturday offers cloud cover, but we shouldn't see much precip until late in the day when it begins to snow and blow out of the SW. Snow should continue through the night and into Sunday before tapering off in the wee hours of Monday morning. At that time the flow switches to the NW and we should see some ridging build in early next week.(If you see this format X - (Y) - Z Then X - Z shows the probable range with Y being my best guess.)Saturday: Freezing Level: 1300m - (1500m) - 1800m; Precip: 2:8mm - 2:10cm (mainly late in the day); Wind: Light, SWSaturday Night: Freezing Level: 900m - (1500m) - 1800m; Precip: 8:16mm - 5:25cm; Treeline Wind: Moderate, SW | Extreme SW at ridgetop.Sunday: Freezing Level: 1000m - (1300m) - 1700m; Precip: 4:7mm - 5:15cm; Treeline Wind: Moderate, SW | Extreme SW at ridgetop.Monday: Freezing Level: 1050m - 1500m; Precip: 0:3mm - 0:5cm; Treeline Wind: Light, W
Avalanche Summary
On Thursday explosive control produced avalanches to size 3 on both SE & NE facing slopes in upper treeline and alpine elevations. A skier remote triggered a size 3 avalanche from 100m away on a NE facing slope at 2200m. The avalanche was triggered from low angle terrain and resulted in a very large avalanche with a crown up to 150cm in depth. This is just one more entry on a spooky list of rider triggered avalanches from the last week.On Monday a splitboarder triggered a size 2.5 storm slab on a west aspect in the Revelstoke area. No injuries were reported. Also on Monday a vehicle remotely triggered a size 2.5 slab avalanche on the February 10th interface in the SE corner of the region. Last Saturday's avalanche fatality occurred in the Keefer Lake area northeast of Cherryville. The avalanche, which occurred in a cut block at about 1700m, involved 3 sledders who were in a party of 6. Two of the men were able to inflate their airbags and were partially buried. The deceased was reportedly not able to inflate his airbag, and was buried approximately 5m below the surface.While not in this region, it's worth taking a look at last weekends incident from the Cariboos.
Snowpack Summary
The surface is currently a mix of 3 - 6mm surface hoar and crust. Last weeks storm snow has settled into a 50 - 100 cm slab that rests on the early March interface consisting of small grained surface hoar in sheltered areas and a sun crust on solar aspects. In upper elevation wind exposed terrain the new snow has been pushed into deep wind slabs by moderate SW winds.The last week featured an average daytime freezing level around 1800m which resulted in a daily melt freeze cycle that left many features wet and sloppy by the afternoon. This setup resulted in some serious incidents recently.Ridgetop cornices remain large and unsupported.The February 10th surface hoar/facet/crust combo is 80cm - 250cm below the snow surface and widespread throughout the region. Surface avalanches in motion and cornice fall still have the potential to initiate an avalanche on this deeply buried weak layer. Remote triggering on this layer is ongoing. The mid and lower snowpack are strong and well consolidated.
Problems
Deep Persistent Slabs
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: All elevations.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Persistent Slabs
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: All elevations.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Storm Slabs
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Mar 15th, 2014 2:00PM