Avalanche forecast

Sea To Sky

Feb 13 – 14, 2017Avalanche Canada
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Avalanche danger

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

Avoid steep sun-exposed slopes during the heat of the day. Don't let your guard down with warm temperatures and sunny skies.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible - Likely
    Size
    1–3
    The warming trend and strong winds from the past storm packed warmer heavy snow on-top of colder snow, making storm and wind slab avalanches much more likely.

  • Loose Wet

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible - Likely
    Size
    1–2
    Just because it's mild out doesn't mean you can get complacent: Avoid steep sun-exposed slopes during the heat of the day.

Confidence

Moderate - Intensity of incoming weather systems is uncertain

Weather Forecast

Change is coming on Tuesday evening and then wet on Wednesday into Thursday. TUESDAY: Mostly cloudy with wet snow or rain beginning in the evening / High temperatures to +6 Celsius / Moderate southwesterly winds / Freezing level around 2600 m. WEDNESDAY: Rain (50-80mm) or wet snow / Moderate southerly winds / Freezing level around 2100m. THURSDAY: Wet flurries changing to snow (15-25cm) / Moderate southwesterly winds / Freezing level around 1500 m.

Avalanche Summary

No new observed.

Snowpack Summary

40-80 cm of storm snow fell last week with moderate to strong southerly winds - this formed variable wind slabs on northerly aspects. Inverted temperatures (warmer at higher elevations) made the slab problem worse and created layers that are still giving sudden results down 30, 40, and 60cms in snowpack tests. The new snow has buried a wide variety of old snow surfaces including stiff wind slab or wind affected snow at upper elevations, sun crust on steep southerly slopes, surface hoar (up to 10 mm) in sheltered locations. In sheltered ares where the recent storm snow is overlying surface hoar (weak, feathery crystals), you may see increased reactivity on this layer as the storm snow begins to settle into a more cohesive slab. The mid and lower snowpack is generally well settled (strong). However, there remain a number of facet and crust layers (down 60-80cm in shallower areas) that are currently dormant but will require monitoring with additional loading (and warming this week), especially in the aforementioned shallower, rocky areas.

Regions covered