Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Mar 20th, 2013 10:54AM
The alpine rating is Storm Slabs and Persistent Slabs.
, the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is Known problems includeSummary
Confidence
Fair - Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain on Thursday
Weather Forecast
Overnight and Thursday: Winds becoming Westerly moderate to strong overnight as the snow continues to fall across the region. Expect another 5-15 cms overnight and another 5 cms during the day. Alpine temperatures should drop down to near -10.0, and the freezing level should be at valley bottoms.Friday: Unsettled weather with mostly cloudy skies and strong to very strong gusty Northwest winds. Continued cool temperatures in the alpine and freezing levels rising to about 1000 metres during the day.Saturday: A ridge of High pressure is moving into the region bringing light West winds, clearing skies, and alpine temperatures in the -10.0 - -15.0 range.
Avalanche Summary
A couple of natural cornice falls were reported size 3.0 that released old storm snow slabs from the sloped below. Some skier controlled pockets of wind transported snow were reported up to size 1.5
Snowpack Summary
Strong winds and new snow have developed new storm slabs on all aspects and at all elevations. Wind transported snow has created thick pockets of wind slab in the lee of alpine winds. New cornice growth may be extensive and weak, causing natural cornice falls. Buried sun crusts on Southerly aspects continue to produce planar fractures in snow profile tests down about 80-100 cms. Large avalanches releasing on the March 10th weak layer are still a concern.
Problems
Storm Slabs
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: All elevations.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Persistent Slabs
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Mar 21st, 2013 2:00PM