Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Dec 8th, 2019 4:00PM

The alpine rating is considerable, the treeline rating is moderate, and the below treeline rating is low.

Avalanche Canada MBender, Avalanche Canada

High pressure will bring mostly sunny skies and northwest wind for the next few days.

Summary

Confidence

No Rating - Uncertainty is due to extremely variable snowpack conditions reported through the region.

Weather Forecast

Sunday Night: Mainly clear with cloud periods, alpine temperature -9, light to moderate northwest wind.

Monday: Cloudy with sunny breaks, alpine temperature -8, light northwest wind.

Tuesday: Cloudy with sunny breaks, alpine temperature -8, light northwest wind.

Wednesday: Cloudy with flurries, alpine temperature -9, moderate west wind.

Avalanche Summary

Reports from Thursday and Friday indicate explosives triggered size 1-1.5 wind slab avalanches. On Saturday there was a report from the northern part of the region of two explosives controlled size 2.5 storm slab avalanches on northeast aspects in the alpine. These avalanches were triggered in thin snowpack areas and stepped down to the facets and depth hoar sitting on the ground.

Snowpack Summary

15-35 cm of new snow accumulated throughout the region through the past week. The new snow has covered surface hoar in sheltered areas and various wind-affected surfaces elsewhere.

The old wind-affected snow sits over a crust on solar aspects in the alpine or a surface hoar/crust combination around treeline. The surface hoar is buried 25-50 cm and seems to be isolated to the north of the region or areas with a relatively deeper snowpack.

There are a variety of crusts buried in the mid to lower snowpack. These crusts have begun to break down. The base of the snowpack generally consists of facets and depth hoar.

Valid until: Dec 9th, 2019 5:00PM