Avalanche forecast

Northwest Coastal

Jan 18 – 19, 2015Avalanche Canada
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Archived · expired 12 years ago

Avalanche danger

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

Cautious route-finding is essential.

Avalanche problems

  • Storm Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    1–4
    Continued snowfall and winds have created slab problems in many areas. Wind slabs may be lurking on many different slope aspects at alpine elevations, as winds have been variable across the region.

Confidence

Fair - Intensity of incoming weather systems is uncertain

Weather Forecast

The forecast calls for continuing snow for the next three days as a SW flow directs itself at the coast. Weather models disagree, but best guess is: Monday – 10-20 cm, Tuesday – 20-30 cm , Wednesday – 10-30 cm. Winds are moderate to strong from the SW and the freezing level hovers near 700 m until Wednesday, when it's expected to rise to  near 1800 m.

Avalanche Summary

Explosives triggered numerous size 1-2 slabs on Friday and Saturday in the north of the region. Many of these were on wind-loaded N-NE aspects around 1400-1500 m. At low elevations, natural loose wet avalanches were observed in steep terrain. Poor visibility prevented most operators from observing avalanche activity on Saturday.

Snowpack Summary

Strong winds have redistributed recent storm snow into wind slabs, and rain has saturated the surface of the snowpack to around 1000 m. If temperatures cool, the snowpack below treeline may gain some strength. Above treeline, a buried rain crust and/or surface hoar layer is down about 50 cm. Observations of the strength at this interface have been limited. The November crust near the bottom of the snowpack is generally well bonded, but may still be reactive in areas with a shallow snowpack, or with a very heavy load.

Regions covered