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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 8th, 2013–Jan 9th, 2013

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

Regions

Sea To Sky.

Confidence

Good

Weather Forecast

Wednesday: Snow flurries with another 5-10cm possible, moderate southwesterly winds becoming northwesterlies in the afternoon, and freezing levels are expected to rise as high as 1500m on Tuesday night but drop back down to 700m by midday Wednesday. Thursday and Friday: Mainly sunny and dry with light northerly winds and freezing levels near sea level.

Avalanche Summary

Relatively small soft slab and dry loose avalanches were easily triggered on on Tuesday, but with further loading by new snow, the potential for larger, more destructive storm slab avalanches is expected to increase. At lower elevations near the coast widespread natural moist loose avalanches up to Size 2 were also reported.

Snowpack Summary

20-30cm of storm snow since Friday is bonding poorly to the previous snow surface, which includes large surface hoar, facets, old hard wind slabs, or a sun crust. As more snow continues to load this weakness, and the slab settles and becomes cohesive, it is expected to become even more touchy with the potential for larger avalanches. No significant weaknesses have been reported recently below this in the mid snowpack layers. Near the base of the snowpack, a crust/facet layer exists, which is now unlikely to be triggered, except perhaps by heavy triggers in steep, shallow, rocky terrain where more facetting has taken place.

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.