Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Jan 13th, 2022 4:00PM
The alpine rating is , the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is Known problems include Storm Slabs.
Catherine Brown,
Use caution as you approach bigger terrain features on Friday, we are at the tail end of an extremely active week of large natural and artillery controlled avalanches.
Summary
Weather Forecast
Break in the weather tonight and Friday, with slowly dropping freezing levels. Precipitation returns for the weekend.
Tonight: Cloudy/Clear, Alp low -5*C, Light W winds
Fri: Cloudy with flurries, Trace of snow, Alp high -4*C, fzl rising to 1400m, mod SW winds
Sat: Flurries, 9cm, Alp high -6*C, fzl 1300m, light SW winds
Snowpack Summary
New storm slabs have formed in the ~45cm of storm snow, with warm temps and mod/strong SW winds. Observations of dense storm/wind slabs in exposed terrain features in the Alpine and TL. These have buried a Jan11 surface hoar layer observed up to 4-6mm, found at treeline and below treeline.
The Dec 1 crust (now buried up to 2m deep) remains dormant.
Avalanche Summary
Widespread natural cycle of avalanches up to size 4 on Wednesday night, failing in the storm snow.
On Tuesday, we had natural and artillery controlled avalanches up to size 3.5, reaching end of runouts with lrg dust components. These avalanches were mostly failing in the storm snow, with a few observations of deeper slabs at treeline.
Confidence
Due to the number of field observations
Problems
Storm Slabs
Storm slabs are gaining strength with settlement and warm temperatures.
Use caution at treeline and below, where surface hoar may be preserved, especially on convex features. Wind effect in exposed terrain treeline and above has created denser slabs.
- Avoid terrain traps, such as gullies, where the consequences of a small avalanche could be serious.
- Be alert to slab conditions that change with elevation.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: All elevations.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Jan 14th, 2022 4:00PM
