Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Jan 10th, 2012 9:19AM

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

Avalanche Canada triley, Avalanche Canada

Summary

Confidence

Fair - Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain on Thursday

Weather Forecast

The ridge of high pressure is expected to bring clear skies and colder temperatures to the region on Wednesday. The temperature in the alpine should be about -15.0 and the winds should increase to about 40 km/hr from the west-northwest. Cloud and light precipitation should move into the region from the Pacific during Wednesday evening, and should become moderate to heavy by late Thursday morning. This system is expected to bring 15-20 cm of snow to higher elevations near Terrace, 30 cm to the mountains near Stewart, and 5-10 cm to the Smithers area. The storm should have passed by Friday mid-morning when arctic air is expected to start to move into the region.

Avalanche Summary

No reports of new avalanches.

Snowpack Summary

Heavy rain up to about 1000 metres on Saturday night ended around 0800 Sunday. Cooling since the storm has created a rain crust up to about 1200 metres. There is about 235 cm at 1500 metres. There is an old rain crust that is buried down about a metre that is knife hard and showing old facets above and below. The snowpack is well settled below the rain crust down to the ground. The snowpack in the alpine is highly variable. Strong winds with almost every storm this winter have scoured ridges and knolls down to bare ground, and exposed boulders on some slopes.

Problems

Wind Slabs

An icon showing Wind Slabs
Windslabs are settling and becoming more stubborn to human triggers.

Aspects: North, North East, East.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

2 - 5

Persistent Slabs

An icon showing Persistent Slabs
Persistent slabs are getting harder to trigger but still exist in many locations.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: All elevations.

Likelihood

Unlikely - Possible

Expected Size

2 - 6

Valid until: Jan 11th, 2012 8:00AM