Avalanche forecast

Northwest Coastal

Dec 13 – 14, 2014Avalanche Canada
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Avalanche danger

Mon
Tue
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

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Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely - Possible
    Size
    2–5
    Wind slabs may be found behind terrain breaks like ridges and ribs. In some areas, a slab could fail on a deeply buried weakness, creating a surprisingly large avalanche.

Confidence

Fair - Due to the number of field observations

Weather Forecast

Mainly clear cool weather is expected until late Monday, when a system is expected to brush up against the coast and bring light snowfall. Freezing levels are near valley bottom. Moderate SE winds.

Avalanche Summary

A naturally triggered avalanche cycle was observed in response to the recent storm. At low elevations, many of these were wet and dug deep, failing to ground, up to size 2.5. At treeline and above, storm slabs and wind slabs were reported. In the north, large explosives triggered slabs up to size 3 failing on the November crust layer, with wide propagations at alpine elevations. Explosives testing produced smaller results by Friday.

Snowpack Summary

Recent heavy rain affected southern parts of the region up to alpine elevations, while the far north remained drier and sports a weaker snowpack in general. Areas which previously received rain have probably now formed a hard frozen crust. High alpine and far northern areas are likely to have wind slabs and large fragile cornices. Deeper in the snowpack, weaknesses such as the mid-November crust-facet layer are still of concern to some operators.

Regions covered