Avalanche forecast

Northwest Coastal

Feb 10 – 11, 2012Avalanche Canada
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Avalanche danger

Sun
Mon
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low
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Avalanche problems

  • Cornices

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    3–6
    Large cornices are looming over some slopes, and could act as a trigger for large, deep avalanches if they collapse.

Confidence

Good - -1

Weather Forecast

Saturday: Should stay dry with clouds and light winds that will pick up in the afternoon. Freezing level around 900 m. Overnight Saturday: light precipitation with 5-10 mm expected. Strong southerly winds. Sunday: Lingering flurries, otherwise dry with high pressure building. Freezing level around 700 m. Monday: Dry and sunny. Light winds.

Avalanche Summary

Isolated cornice releases have been reported from this region that have mostly not triggered a slab on the slope below. One that did pull a slab was from Monday or Tuesday this week, and was suspected to have released down to the Jan-20 facet layer.

Snowpack Summary

Approximately 5 cm of new snow at treeline and above has buried a surface hoar layer (crystal size reported to be 1-4 mm) lying on old surfaces comprising crusts and variable wind slabs. The crusts formed in response to successive melt-freeze cycles and are harder and thicker the lower in elevation you go. The wind slabs were deposited on a variety of aspects and are becoming increasingly stubborn and difficult to trigger. Deeper within the snowpack, a facet layer buried around Jan 20th is the greatest concern. This layer lies approximately 110-140 cm below the surface and still exhibits hard, sudden planar results in isolated snowpack tests. Avalanches have occasionally been failing on this layer with large triggers such as cornices.

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