Avalanche forecast

Purcells

Jan 28 – 29, 2016Avalanche Canada
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Archived · expired 11 years ago

Avalanche danger

Sat
Sun
Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
3 · Considerable
Below
2 · Moderate
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Highlights

Continued conservative decision making is recommended as the snowpack settles and adjusts to the recent load and warming.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    1–3
    Fresh wind slabs lurking below ridge crests and behind terrain features are sensitive to human triggers. Cornices are also large and fragile.

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible - Likely
    Size
    2–5
    Surface hoar buried at the beginning on January remains a concern for human triggers. The potential for widespread propagation and remote triggering makes this persistent slab particularly tricky to manage.

Confidence

High

Weather Forecast

FRIDAY: A mix on sun and cloud with isolated light flurries possible. Freezing levels dropping to 1200m and light southwesterly winds. SATURDAY: A mix of sun and cloud but mainly dry. Freezing levels dropping to 1000m and light northwesterly winds. SUNDAY: A mix of sun and cloud and mainly dry with freezing levels dropping below valley bottoms and light northwesterly winds.

Avalanche Summary

Reports from Wednesday include several natural wind slab avalanches up to Size 2 predominately on north through east aspects and on cross-loaded features in steep aline terrain. On Thursday, explosives control produced relatively harmless loose wet and storm slab avalanches as well as 30-50cm deep persistent slab avalanches up to Size 1.5 running on surface hoar buried early January.

Snowpack Summary

Most areas are reporting 10-25 cm deep fresh wind slabs that were loaded from moderate to strong southwest winds. Weakness linger within and under the 30-60cm of recent storm snow with reports of moderate sudden results in snowpack tests. The persistent weak layer of surface hoar buried early-January is now typically down 40-70 cm and appears to be quite touchy in some parts of the region. In general, the lower snowpack is well settled and strong.

Regions covered