Avalanche forecast

South Rockies

Dec 4 – 5, 2013Avalanche Canada
View on map
Archived · expired 13 years ago

Avalanche danger

Fri
Sat
Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
3 · Considerable
Below
2 · Moderate
Open full map

Highlights

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible - Likely
    Size
    1–3
    Northeast winds have developed wind slabs at higher elevations. These wind slabs may have reverse loaded terrain features that were stripped by Westerly winds during the storm.

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    1–4
    We expect the recent storm snow to continue to be reactive above the surface hoar and crusts that were buried at the end of November.

Snowpack Summary

A storm slab has developed above the existing shallow weak snowpack. We don't know how deep the storm slab is due to a lack of observations from the field. I expect that there is 10-40 cm of new snow depending on your location in the region. This variability is due to the convective nature of the recent storm. The new storm slab is not expected to bond well to the old surface weak layers of crusts, wind slabs, and surface hoar.

Confidence

Fair - Due to the number of field observations

Weather Forecast

Mostly clear and cold for the forecast period. There is a chance of some cloud and very light flurries in the Southeast.

Avalanche Summary

No reports of avalanche activity. We suspect that the storm slab continues to be reactive to human triggers where it is sitting on a weak layer of buried surface hoar, facetted crystals, or crust.

Regions covered