Avalanche forecast

Northwest Inland

Jan 26 – 27, 2012Avalanche Canada
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Avalanche danger

Sat
Sun
Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
3 · Considerable
Below
3 · Considerable
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Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    2–5
    Wind slabs continue to build behind ridges and terrain breaks. Areas that avalanched earlier this week may re-load as the storm continues.

  • Storm Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely - Very Likely
    Size
    3–7
    Storm slabs continue to develop above a touchy buried layer of facets. Slabs that have not released naturally may be easy to trigger by people.

Confidence

Fair - Timing, track, or intensity of incoming weather is uncertain

Weather Forecast

Friday: Snow overnight Thursday should give way to flurries on Friday. Freezing level near valley floor. Light to moderate winds.Saturday: Moderate to heavy precipitation with the freezing level climbing to 1200m by afternoon. Strong to gale westerly winds. Sunday: Light to moderate snow, tapering off by afternoon. Moderate to strong westerly winds. Freezing level dropping by afternoon.

Avalanche Summary

We haven't received any reports of avalanches from the region, but expect some natural activity to have occurred.

Snowpack Summary

Wind slabs and storm slabs continue to build above a weak facet layer which formed during the brutal cold of mid-January and was buried around January 20th. Avalanches have begun to release on this layer in the Coastal regions, and it's probably just a matter of time before a critical load builds up above it in further inland. Tests on this layer in the Seaton Basin have produced moderate, sudden planar ("pops") shears, indicating that an avalanche releasing on this layer could propagate widely. In the Howsons, the facet layer was buried with very little wind effect in the alpine, at the same time that the northeast outflow winds were howling in Terrace. Rising temperatures and snowfall during the weekend will increase the likelihood of storm slab avalanches, which could be very large. In shallow snowpack areas, a weak, "rotten" snowpack has been observed.

Regions covered