Avalanche forecast

Purcells

Mar 10 – 11, 2015Avalanche Canada
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Archived · expired 12 years ago

Avalanche danger

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

Highlights

Forecast light snow in the alpine is expected to continue to develop windslabs.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–3
    Changing wind directions continue to develop new windslabs in the alpine.

Confidence

Good

Weather Forecast

Cloud developing overnight with freezing levels dropping down to about 1200 metres. Light precipitation starting in the early morning combined with moderate to strong southwest winds. Freezing levels rising up to about 2100 metres during the day. Light precipitation overnight and Thursday morning resulting in 3-5 cm of new snow above about 1700 metres. Friday is expected to be very warm with clearing skies as the high pressure ridge re-builds.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches reported.

Snowpack Summary

Roughly 5-10 cm of recent snow adds to the variable amounts of dry facetted snow on top of the mid-February crust with associated buried surface hoar in sheltered areas, or, more recent melt-freeze crusts on sun-exposed slopes. The late-Jan crust/surface hoar layer can be found about a metre below the surface in deeper snowpack areas. The mid-January surface hoar, can be found below that. These layers have gained significant strength, and chances of triggering these weaknesses have decreased dramatically. 

Regions covered