Avalanche forecast

Northwest Coastal

Feb 21 – 22, 2017Avalanche Canada
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Archived · expired 10 years ago

Avalanche danger

Wed
Thu
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low

Highlights

Wind slabs may be found on several aspects at higher elevations due to the changing wind directions.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–2
    Wind slabs likely exist on a variety of aspects, including fresh wind slabs formed by outflow winds and lingering wind slabs from last week's storm.

Weather Forecast

Tonight: High overcast with some broken skies, a chance of flurries, moderate northwest winds and at least -10 in the alpine. Wednesday: Mix of sun and cloud with moderate northwest winds and close to -15 in the alpine. Thursday: Mostly sunny with a chance of strong northeast outflow winds developing. Friday: Clear with moderate to strong northeast winds and -15 in the alpine.

Confidence

High -

Avalanche Summary

Some size 1.0 soft slab or loose snow avalanches were reported on Monday from areas just west and north of Terrace, and some small wind slabs were skier controlled in areas near Stewart. No new natural avalanches reported.

Snowpack Summary

Overcast skies and a couple of cm of new snow has not changed the snowpack structure since the weekend. A new layer of surface hoar may have been buried overnight or early Monday morning. Clear cold weather and shifting winds have created a variety of surface conditions including isolated wind slabs, pockets of soft snow (15-25 cm deep), sun crusts, and surface hoar. A supportive rain crust exists below 1000 m. A layer of surface hoar that was buried on February 10th can be found buried 30-60 cm deep at treeline elevations and has been reactive in some recent snowpack tests. Below this layer, the snowpack is generally settled and strong. The exception is shallow snowpack areas around Bear Pass and Ningunsaw where basal facets remain an ongoing concern.

Regions covered