Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Little Yoho.
Great skiing continues in sheltered areas. Watch for new wind slabs in alpine lee areas and continue to minimize exposure to cornices.
Weather Forecast
Temperatures remain mild on Friday with treeline staying around -5'C. Winds will remain in the moderate range out of the SW. We will see continued flurries with up to 5 cm's of new snow during the day and more intense flurries starting in the evening with up to 15 cm in total. Saturday will cool down and the winds will ease up.
Snowpack Summary
Some wind effect and new wind slabs in lee areas of the alpine. 10-20 cm of recent snow over buried sun crusts on steep solar aspects. The Feb. 1 rain crust is down 20-50 cm and present below 1900 m. A dense snowpack with no significant weaknesses is present in most areas, but thin rocky areas have a faceted base.
Avalanche Summary
Local ski hills reported newly formed wind slabs isolated to immediate lee slopes near ridge crests. Ski patrol and Visitor Safety teams were able to ski cut size 1 avalanches on this layer. Some large sluffs out of extreme rocky terrain up to size 1.5 were reported and one natural cornice failure was observed.
Confidence
Intensity of incoming weather systems is uncertain on Friday
Avalanche Problems
Wind Slabs
New wind slabs are forming in alpine lee areas. These are a little more widespread due to gusty SW winds on Thursday.
- Be careful with wind loaded pockets, especially near ridge crests and roll-overs.
- Pay attention to overhead hazards like cornices which could trigger slabs.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine.
Likelihood: Possible
Expected Size: 1 - 2