Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Mar 12th, 2015 9:33AM

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

Avalanche Canada bcorrigan, Avalanche Canada

Careful consideration to temperatures, accumulation, and exposure to avalanche terrain is necessary for safe travel now !

Summary

Confidence

Fair - Intensity of incoming weather systems is uncertain

Weather Forecast

Precipitation  and strong winds will continue through Friday and are forecast to end on early Saturday morning.  Skies should clear on Saturday and begin to dry out the forecast region.  Freezing levels will stay around the 1500M mark , but drop to around 500m on Saturday.For more information check out the Mountain Weather Forecast at: http://www.avalanche.ca/weather

Avalanche Summary

There was no avalanche activity reported in the region yesterday, but this may be a case of poor weather and limited observations.  Size 1 skier triggered wind slabs have been previously reported in high elevation lee terrain.

Snowpack Summary

This storm system accompanied by strong southwest winds will build dense slabs on exposed lee features, adding additional load to the previous storm slab. There are a variety of old  buried interfaces that include hard wind slabs, hard crusts, surface hoar, and/or surface facets. The lack of large recent avalanches suggest a reasonable bonds at these interfaces, but we should remain cautious of steeper, high-consequence slopes, as a release on  any of these  buried layers could be large and destructive . At the base of the snowpack, weak facets may be found, particularly on shallow alpine slopes in the north of the region. Cornices are becoming large and potentially unstable.

Problems

Storm Slabs

An icon showing Storm Slabs
New snow and high winds will create a new snow instability with wind slabs and the potential to create large destructive avalanches. Large ripe cornices are definitely worth paying attention to !
Choose conservative lines and watch for clues of instability.>Be cautious as you transition into wind affected terrain.>Stay well back from cornices.>

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: All elevations.

Likelihood

Likely

Expected Size

1 - 4

Valid until: Mar 13th, 2015 2:00PM

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