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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 2nd, 2015–Feb 3rd, 2015

Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.

Regions

Kootenay Boundary.

Keep your eyes peeled for small sensitive wind slabs and fast running sluff, especially if you're hunting some of the bigger trophy lines.

Weather Forecast

Should be relatively cool and dry Tuesday with light variable winds at treeline.  The freezing level should creep up to 1000m Wednesday, returning to the valley bottom Wednesday Night.  Freezing levels are expected to climb steadily through the day Thursday topping out around 2300m as winds rage at extreme speeds out of the SW.  The models suggest this will continue with no overnight recovery until at least Sunday.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches have been reported.

Snowpack Summary

5 - 10 cm of new snow fell Sunday evening into Monday accompanied by moderate SW winds. This new snow has fallen on a widespread and mostly supportive melt-freeze crust 1 - 15cm thick that is topped by 6 - 15mm surface hoar. This combo has been reported on all aspects and elevations. The mid-January weak layer of buried surface hoar is down 25-55 cm and continues to give planar results in snow profile tests. The mid-December crust/facet/surface hoar layer can be found down around 50cm deep in low snowpack areas, and about 100cm down in deeper snowpack areas. There may still be potential to trigger this deeper layer from thin spots like rock outcroppings and ridgecrests at and above treeline.

Problems

Storm Slabs

Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.

Persistent Slabs

Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.