Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Yukon.
Continue to avoid wind effected terrain. Give the wind slab some more time to bond to the underlying layer.
Confidence
High -
Weather Forecast
Saturday night: light flurries bringing 5cm of snow with moderate to strong southerly winds. Low of -8 at 1100m.
Sunday: some light flurries throughout the day bringing 5cm of snow. Winds becoming light from the north. High of -10 at 1100m.
Monday: clear skies with a high of -22 at 1100m. Light to moderate north wind.
Tuesday: clear skies and no new snow expected. High of -24 at 1100m. Winds shifting to light southwest in the afternoon.
Avalanche Summary
We suspect new rider triggerable wind slabs could be found in exposed terrain on north aspects and cross loaded slopes on east and west.
On Wednesday our field team observed a size 2 natural wind slab avalanche on a southeast aspect at 1500m.
Snowpack Summary
Continuous strong southerly winds over the past few days combined with new snow has created wind slab on all exposed terrain on north aspects. South aspects are a mix of scoured and pressed surfaces.
In shallow snowpack areas a layer of loose facets sits at the bottom of the snowpack.
Terrain and Travel
- Be careful with wind slabs, especially in steep, unsupported and/or convex terrain features.
- Use ridges or ribs to avoid areas of wind loaded snow.
Avalanche Problems
Wind Slabs
Continuous strong southerly winds over the past few days combined with new snow have formed reactive wind slabs on north aspects and likely cross loaded some features on west and east. Strong winds mean that wind slab could be found further down slope than expected. The largest and most sensitive wind slabs will likely be found in the White Pass area.
Aspects: North, North East, East, South East, West, North West.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Likely
Expected Size: 1 - 2