Avalanche forecast

Northwest Inland

Dec 12, 2016Avalanche Canada
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Archived · expired 10 years ago

Avalanche danger

Mon
Tue
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

Wind slabs may be reactive to human triggers in isolated locations.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–2
    Recently formed wind slabs may remain reactive to human triggers for several days after the winds die down. Wind slabs may be present on many aspects and elevations due to very strong and highly variable wind directions.

Confidence

Moderate - Due to the number of field observations

Weather Forecast

Monday: Sunny / Light easterly winds / High of -19 C.Tuesday: Sunny / Light northeasterly winds / High of -19 C. Wednesday: Mix of sun and cloud / Light northeasterly winds / High of -18 C.

Avalanche Summary

No recent avalanches have been reported in this region.

Snowpack Summary

Clear skies and strong outflow winds have created a variety of snow surfaces including scouring and hard wind slabs in exposed areas and surface hoar formation in sheltered areas. Recent winds have blown from many directions, most recently from the east. As a result, expect wind slabs to exist on a wide variety of exposed slopes. According to reports near Smithers, there is a layer of surface hoar down 40-50 cm. A thick rain crust that formed in early November is now buried 50-60 cm deep. Early season snowpack observations are still very limited in the region, but reports suggest the average snowpack depth is 50-90 cm at treeline and 120 cm or greater in the alpine.

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