Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Jan 7th, 2020 4:00PM
The alpine rating is , the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is
cgarritty,
Avalanche Canada
Continuing snowfall is expected to maintain dangerous avalanche conditions for Wednesday. Remember that potential for human triggered avalanches will persist as the storm eases. The danger will be greatest in wind-loaded areas.
Summary
Confidence
Moderate - Uncertainty is due to the limited number of field observations. Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain.
Weather Forecast
Tuesday night: Continuing flurries bringing 10-15 cm of new snow. Snow. Moderate west winds. Freezing level peaking at 1400 metres.
Wednesday: Continuing scattered flurries bringing 5-10 cm of new snow and new snow totals to 25-40 cm. Moderate to strong southwest winds. Alpine temperatures around -5 with freezing levels to 1200 metres.
Thursday: Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries. Light northwest winds. Alpine temperatures around -9 C, freezing level back to valley bottom.
Friday: Mainly cloudy. Light northwest winds. Alpine high temperatures around -14.
Avalanche Summary
We don't yet have reports of avalanche activity from the latest round of snowfall, but Initial reports of avalanche activity in the Fernie area on Tuesday showed numerous storm slabs releasing naturally as well as with remote triggers from skier traffic, and with explosives. Avalanches generally ranged from size 1 (small) to size 2.5 (large). The bulk of this activity was observed on north to east aspects. Similar conditions are likely to exist in areas of the South Rockies that saw substantial snowfall over Monday night and Tuesday.
Snowpack Summary
Continuing flurries are expected to bring new snow totals to 25-40 cm over the region by Wednesday morning.Â
The new snow has buried recent wind slabs and other wind-affected surfaces in open areas at all elevations. This older, wind-affected snow forms the upper part of a reasonably consolidated mid-snowpack which overlies our weak basal snowpack.Â
The bottom 30-50 cm of the snowpack consists of weak facets and crusts. Although these layers have been unreactive in recent snowpack tests and have not produced avalanche activity recently, there is the potential for them to become reactive with large loads or significant warming.
Terrain and Travel
- Avoid shallow, rocky areas where the snowpack transitions from thick to thin.
- Give the new snow time to settle and stabilize before pushing into bigger terrain.
- Avoid freshly wind loaded terrain features.
Valid until: Jan 8th, 2020 5:00PM
