Avalanche forecast

Northwest Inland

Feb 12 – 13, 2012Avalanche Canada
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Avalanche danger

Tue
Wed
Alpine
1 · Low
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low
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Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely - Possible
    Size
    1–3
    Isolated new wind slabs are developing in the lee of exposed terrain features.

Confidence

Good - -1

Weather Forecast

Monday: Mainly sunny conditions, with light northwesterly winds. Freezing level at valley bottom. Tuesday: A weak frontal system will bring 2-5 cm new snow with some gusty southwesterly winds. Freezing level should rise slightly to around 500 m. Wednesday: another weak frontal system arrives late in the day, bringing further light precipitation.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches have been reported.

Snowpack Summary

A very light skiff of snow may have buried a surface hoar layer that lies on top of old surfaces comprising crusts and old wind slab. However, with only a centimetre or so of new snow, it's not certain that surface hoar crystals of 5 mm or more would get properly buried. Successive melt-freeze cycles have produced crusts on all aspects at lower elevations as well as on south-facing slopes higher up. The old wind slabs are no longer causing concern in most areas. A facet layer, which formed around 20th January, is buried around 60 cm and is reported to be gaining strength. It showed hard, resistant planar results in a compression test at treeline in the Hankin area on Sunday.

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