Avalanche forecast

Northwest Inland

Feb 28 – 29, 2016Avalanche Canada
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Avalanche danger

Tue
Wed
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

New snow may be hiding hard old wind slabs. Watch out for lee features even if there aren't obvious signs of fresh wind loading.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–3
    Wind slabs may be found in the lee of exposed features in the alpine and treeline.

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely - Possible
    Size
    3–6
    A couple of persistent and deep persistent weak layers remain a low probability high consequence concern. Large avalanches can be triggered from thin spots or by heavy loads such as a cornice release or smaller avalanche.

Confidence

Moderate - The weather pattern is stable

Weather Forecast

MONDAY: flurries overnight clearing to become mainly sunny, light to moderate westerly winds, 1000m freezing level. TUESDAY: partly cloudy, moderate westerly winds, 1200m freezing level. WEDNESDAY: mainly sunny, light southerly winds, 1200m freezing level.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches were reported over the weekend.

Snowpack Summary

Moderate winds have created fresh wind slabs in the alpine and at treeline, and grown cornices at ridgeline.  The recent snow may sit above a crust on sunny aspects or surface hoar in isolated shady locations.  A more widespread crust may be found just below the surface at lower elevations. In general the upper snow pack is reported to be bonding well to a crust buried in early February, now 40 to 80cm down, that extends up to around 2000m. The early January surface hoar can typically be found between 60 and 140cm down.  Although it is getting harder to trigger in most places this layer remains a concern, especially in the north and east of the region. Shallow snowpack areas also have a weak base layer of facetted snow just above the ground.

Regions covered