Avalanche forecast

Northwest Inland

Dec 22 – 23, 2013Avalanche Canada
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Avalanche danger

Tue
Wed
Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
3 · Considerable
Below
3 · Considerable
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Highlights

Forecasters are working with very limited field data at this time. If you are traveling in the backcountry we'd love to hear about what you're seeing out there! [email protected]

Avalanche problems

  • Storm Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    1–4
    It's starting to look like snow totals from this storm won't be all that impressive, but combine that with Sunday/Monday's strong winds and we'll still see some change in the snowpack.  Watch for fresh sensitive wind slabs on Monday. 

  • Deep Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely - Possible
    Size
    3–6
    New snow combined with strong winds may overload the weak layers deep in our snowpack.  Pay attention to what's going on above you and limit your exposure to overhead hazard.

Confidence

Poor - Due to the number of field observations

Weather Forecast

Synopsis: The freezing level should top out around 1700m a few hours after sunset. Parts of the region may see a small amount of rain before the night is over. Sunday Night: Dropping to around 800m overnight. Precip: Trace Monday: Freezing Level: 900m Precip: Nil Wind: Mod, W gusting StrongTuesday: Freezing Level: 500m Precip: 1/3mm 2/6cm Wind: Mod, W gusting Extreme.Wednesday: Freezing Level: 1600m Precip: 6/10mm Wind: Mod, W gusting Extreme.

Avalanche Summary

No avalanches reported in the last week.

Snowpack Summary

We got a couple of observations from Saturday which is great! There is significant variation in snow depths across the region. In the Smithers area the ski hill is reporting an 89 cm base while the Ashman trailer is around the same. Treeline depths vary between 100 - 200 cm.The region has picked up 10 - 30 cm of cold new snow over the last three days. Last weekend's storm finished very warm, as a result a crust can be found near the snow surface below 1100m. The best guess is that the last storm produced around 10 - 50 cm of snow. This snow now overlies the layer of facets/surface hoar that sit above old wind slabs and melt-freeze crusts which were formed during the December cold/dry spell. We don't have great wind stations in the region, but the coast saw a lot of strong wind during the last storm & I suspect this region was similarly hammered by wind. The mid and lower snowpack is still structurally weak due to facets, potentially even depth hoar and an early season crust near the ground.

Regions covered