Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Mar 30th, 2015 10:08AM

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

ghelgeson, Avalanche Canada

Kootenay Boundary.

Warmth is the main driver of avalanche hazard at the moment. Minimize your exposure to large slopes if the snowpack is becoming moist or wet.

Summary

Confidence

Fair

Weather Forecast

Tuesday: Broken skies. Freezing level starting around 2500m, dropping to 1500m by days end. 1 to 6mm of precipitation expected, 1 to 8cm of snow possible. Treeline winds moderate SW/W, ridgetop winds strong SW/W.Wednesday: Scattered cloud cover. Freezing level starting at 1300m, rising to 1600m in the afternoon. No significant precipitation. Light W winds at treeline, moderate NW winds at treeline.Thursday: Freezing level starting around 1000m, rising to 1600m in the afternoon. Light NW/W winds at all elevations. Few clouds in the morning increasing to 80% cloud cover in the afternoon.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanche activity reported from Saturday or Sunday. The last significant round of activity was from Friday which involved wet activity to size 2 on all aspects between 1600m and 2200m.

Snowpack Summary

3 to 10 cm lie above a hard crust created by barely freezing temperatures Saturday night. Below this crust 15 to 60cm of moist rain soaked snow can be found. Below this you'll find the mid-March crust/facet complex which is consistently down 40 to 70cm. Continued mild conditions are likely helping to strengthen the bond at this interface.

Problems

Loose Wet

Looks like one more day of very warm temps. Watch for small loose wet avalanches and be aware that the large visor like cornices that overhang many ridge-tops are currently prone to failure.

Avoid exposure to terrain traps where the consequences of loose wet avalanches could be very serious.>Do not travel on or below cornices.>

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: All elevations.

Likelihood

Likely

Expected Size

1 - 2

Wet Slabs

As the snowpack is subjected to yet another day of significant warmth, the bond that fresh wind/storm slabs have with the underlying saturated snow and deeper crust could rapidly decay. Potentially large wet slabs may still be possible Tuesday.

Avoid sun exposed slopes when the solar radiation is strong, especially if snow is moist or wet.>

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

1 - 5

Valid until: Mar 31st, 2015 2:00PM