Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Feb 5th, 2014 4:00PM

The alpine rating is low, the treeline rating is low, and the below treeline rating is low. Known problems include Deep Persistent Slabs.

aaron beardmore, Parks Canada

Banff Yoho Kootenay.

Remember, LOW does not mean zero chance of avalanches. However, Thurs/Fri are shaping up to be fantastic alpine days, with no wind and warm-ish temps. Ski quality could be hard to find, so get up high and have a look around.

Summary

Weather Forecast

The cold is supposed to subside slightly on Thursday, with alpine temperatures rising to about -15. The trend will continue on Friday, which poses to be a calm, relatively warm and spectacular day (minus the rough surface condition). However, this slight warming trend will have minimal affect on the danger rating.

Snowpack Summary

5-10 cm of recent snow sits on the January 30th surface hoar below treeline. In the alpine this recent snow is over a firm wind slab or a thick sun crust on S & W aspects. The snowpack has gained strength over the past few weeks, and snowpack tests are now producing hard results 20 cm above the ground in the facetted base layer.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches have been observed or reported.

Confidence

The weather pattern is stable on Thursday

Problems

Deep Persistent Slabs

The snowpack has gained some strength and now combined with the cold temperatures it will be hard to trigger an avalanche on the weak layers near the base. This situation will persist until the weather pattern changes.

Be aware of thin areas that may propogate to deeper instabilites.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Unlikely - Possible

Expected Size

1 - 3

Valid until: Feb 6th, 2014 4:00PM