Avalanche forecast

South Coast Inland

Jan 15, 2017Avalanche Canada
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Archived · expired 10 years ago

Avalanche danger

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

Wind slabs are slowly gaining strength but you can expect those on south aspects to become touchy with any solar radiation (especially in the south - Coquihalla region).

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–2
    Wind slabs have formed on a wide range of aspects through the combination of a southwesterly storm flow and subsequent northerly outflow winds. Tune in to patterns of wind loading as you travel and be especially cautious of thin trigger points.

Confidence

Moderate - Wind effect is extremely variable

Weather Forecast

We're in a warming trend with no precipitation expected on Sunday. Big change on Monday through Wednesday, stay tuned. SUNDAY: Increasing clouds in the afternoon. Winds light - moderate westerly. Freezing level rising to 600m in the south and alpine high temperatures around -3 Celsius. MONDAY: Snow beginning near noon. Winds moderate to strong from the southwest. Alpine high temperatures to -4 Celsius. TUESDAY: 15-20 cm snow. Winds moderate gusting strong (40-60 Km/hr) from the southwest. Alpine temperatures around -1 Celsius.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches reported.

Snowpack Summary

The main story is widespread variability due to all the shifting wind patterns, distributing and redistributing snow over the past few weeks. 25-30cm of low density snow fell over Sunday and Monday in the southern (Coquihalla) area, while northern sections received 7-15cms of new snow. During the storm, moderate southwesterly winds distributed the new snow onto north and east aspects, forming reactive soft slabs. After the storm, winds shifted to classic outflow (northerly) patterns on Tuesday with moderate winds at ridge top. This pattern resulted in 'reverse loading' of wind slabs onto southerly slopes as far down as 1850m in the north (Duffey Lake zone) and 1700m in the south (Coquihalla area). These new, old and variable wind slabs are the primary weaknesses of concern in the snowpack. The older wind slabs from a week ago (on south to west aspects) remain a concern in our current snowpack with recent cold temperatures having slowed their healing into the snowpack.

Regions covered