Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Mar 28th, 2019 4:39PM

The alpine rating is moderate, the treeline rating is moderate, and the below treeline rating is moderate. Known problems include Loose Wet and Wind Slabs.

cgarritty, Avalanche Canada

North Columbia.

Get in, get after it, and get out. Conditions are approaching ideal for tackling bigger objectives, as long as you're savvy about exiting avalanche terrain before the heat of the day.

Summary

Confidence

High -

Weather Forecast

Thursday night: Clear. Light northeast winds. Friday: Mainly sunny. Light variable winds. Alpine high temperatures around -1 with freezing levels to 2000 metres.Saturday: A mix of sun and cloud with cloud increasing over the day and a chance of light flurries overnight. Light west winds. Alpine high temperatures around 0 with freezing levels to 2100 metres.Sunday: Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries and a trace of new snow at higher elevations. Light southwest winds. Alpine high temperatures around -1 with freezing levels to 2000 metres.Overnight freezing levels will remain elevated during this period, dropping briefly each night to between 1000 to 1500 metres.

Avalanche Summary

Wednesday's reports showed similar activity to Tuesday, with more activity noted on all aspects with thicker wind-loaded slabs more prominent on north to east aspects and wet slabs and loose wet releases observed on sun-exposed south to west aspects.Reports from Tuesday showed skier traffic, ski cutting, and explosives control yielding mainly small (size 1-1.5) storm slab releases, with slab depths of 10-20 cm. North to northeast aspects were the focal point and wide fracture propagations in these results were attributed to a poor bond between the new snow and the previous surface of crust.Looking forward, expect continuing warm, sunny weather to ramp up loose wet avalanche problems with each day's warming cycle.

Snowpack Summary

New sun crusts and temperature crusts are likely to exist on sun exposed aspects at all elevations as well as shaded aspects below about 1700 metres. Below this surface, 10 to 30 cm of recent snow (variable over the region and increasing with elevation) buried a previous surface of melt-freeze crust in most areas above 1500 metres earlier this week.The snowpack below about 1500 metres has been disappearing rapidly under the influence of sustained above freezing temperatures, strong sunshine, and rain. The chance of loose wet avalanches increases each day as these factors break down surface crusts and bring snow to its melting point.The remainder of the snowpack is generally consolidated and strong. Exceptions may exist on north aspects above 2000 m, where a gradually strengthening layer of faceted grains buried 50 to 70 cm deep may still be preserved below an overlying slab of old and hard wind-affected snow.

Problems

Loose Wet

A springtime regime of daily warm temperatures and sunshine will tend to destabilize surface snow each day, especially on steep, sunny slopes. Larger avalanches become possible during peak warming.

Avoid exposure to terrain traps, where the consequences of a small avalanche could be serious.Start and finish early to reduce your exposure to avalanche terrain during the heat of the day.This problem may affect shaded aspects where air temperatures exceed 0 degrees.

Aspects: East, South East, South, South West, West.

Elevations: All elevations.

Likelihood

Likely

Expected Size

1 - 2

Wind Slabs

Lingering slabs from Tuesday's storm may remain reactive to human triggers on Friday. This problem is likely to become increasingly confined to steeper, wind loaded slopes at ridgecrest. Sun-exposed aspects may produce wet slabs during peak warming.

Use ridges or ribs to avoid pockets of wind loaded snow.Be careful around wind loaded pockets near ridge crests and roll-overs.

Aspects: North, North East, East, North West.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

1 - 1.5

Valid until: Mar 29th, 2019 2:00PM