Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Jan 9th, 2015 7:45AM

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

jlammers, Avalanche Canada

South Coast.

Very light snowfall is expected for the weekend. If more significant accumulations develop, wind slabs should be on you radar at higher elevations.

Summary

Confidence

Good

Weather Forecast

A weak push of Pacific moisture will come on-shore Friday evening bringing very light snowfall for Saturday and Sunday. Freezing levels for the weekend are expected to hover around 1000m. On Monday, a dry ridge of high pressure is forecast to rebuild with mainly clear skies and rising freezing levels. Winds are expected to remain mainly light for the entire forecast period.

Avalanche Summary

No recent avalanches have been reported.

Snowpack Summary

A thick supportive surface crust is capping the snowpack. Below the crust is the recent storm snow which is around 50-70cm deep and sits on a previously variable snow surface that included wind affected surfaces, a freezing rain crust or sun crust, and/or surface hoar or sugary facets in sheltered terrain. In the middle of the snowpack you might find the mid-December surface hoar or crust/facet weak layers. These are now typically buried 1m or more. The old surface hoar layer may be found in sheltered shady areas at and below treeline, while the slightly deeper crust/facet layer is expected to be more widespread but also more variable.

Problems

Persistent Slabs

With forecast cooling and surface crust development, persistent slab avalanches will become much less likely to trigger. If there is no surface crust, persistent weaknesses may be more sensitive to triggering, especially in the north of the region.

Be aware of thin areas where human-triggering may be possible and may propagate to deeper instabilities.>Avoid steep convexities or areas with a thin or variable snowpack.>

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.

Likelihood

Unlikely

Expected Size

2 - 5

Valid until: Jan 10th, 2015 2:00PM