Avalanche forecast

Northwest Inland

Feb 23 – 24, 2017Avalanche Canada
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Archived · expired 10 years ago

Avalanche danger

Fri
Sat
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

The deep persistent weak layer of sugary facets continues to be a concern for people triggering large avalanches.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–2
    Changing wind directions may develop new wind slabs on south through west aspects. Old wind slabs may continue to linger on other aspects.

  • Deep Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely - Possible
    Size
    2–4
    A weakness at the bottom of the snowpack is lingering and may be triggered in shallow snowpack areas or by the weight of smaller avalanches.

Confidence

High -

Weather Forecast

Tonight: Strong northeast winds, scattered flurries and -20 in the alpine. Friday: Mix of sun and cloud or high overcast with moderate northeast winds and alpine temperature -12. Saturday: Cloudy with light snow (3-5 cm), moderate to strong northwest winds, and alpine temperature -10. Sunday: Mostly sunny with moderate northeast winds and alpine temperature -15.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches reported.

Snowpack Summary

10-15 cm of recent storm snow has been transported by the wind, and now sits on a variety of old surface conditions including isolated wind slabs, pockets of soft snow (5-10 cm deep), sun crusts, and surface hoar. A supportive rain crust exists below 1000 m. A layer of surface hoar that was buried on February 10th may exist 30-60 cm below the surface, but there's a fair bit of uncertainty regarding the reactivity and distribution of this layer. A stiff mid pack sits above weak sugary snow near the ground. Although possibly dormant, this basal weakness has the potential to produce very large destructive avalanches.

Regions covered