Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Feb 8th, 2014 4:00PM

The alpine rating is low, the treeline rating is low, and the below treeline rating is low. Known problems include Deep Persistent Slabs.

stephen holeczi, Parks Canada

Banff Yoho Kootenay.

One more day of stable weather on Sunday. After this, we move into a trend of slowly increasing avalanche danger. SH

Summary

Weather Forecast

Saturday night should be the last bitter night of -30C. Sunday expect light winds and no snow. We are moving into a SW flow for the extended forecast period, bringing with it increased winds, warmer temperatures, and the possibility of 15-20cm by the middle of next week.

Snowpack Summary

5-10 cm of facetted snow sits on the spotty January 30th surface hoar. This is the layer to watch next week.Â In the alpine this snow sits over a firm wind slab or facetted sun crust on S & W aspects. Minor wind effect on shady alpine features. Deeper snowpack areas have good mid pack strength over the weaker basal depth hoar/crust.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches have been observed or reported.

Confidence

Due to the number and quality of field observations on Saturday

Problems

Deep Persistent Slabs

The basal depth hoar, crust layer is dormant for now. Currently it is only possible to trigger this layer from extreme terrain in thin snowpack areas.

Be aware of thin areas that may propogate to deeper instabilites.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine.

Likelihood

Unlikely

Expected Size

2 - 2

Valid until: Feb 9th, 2014 4:00PM