Avalanche forecast

South Coast Inland

Jan 3, 2017Avalanche Canada
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Archived · expired 10 years ago

Avalanche danger

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

Cold north winds have been blowing. Watch for fresh wind slabs, particularly on southerly aspects

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–2
    Fresh wind slabs are forming on mainly south to west aspects behind exposed terrain features. Slabs found on south aspect slopes could become more unstable when the sun is out.

Confidence

High - The weather pattern is stable

Weather Forecast

TUESDAY: Dry and sunny. Wind northeasterly 20-35 km/h. Temperatures around -14C.WEDNESDAY: Dry and sunny. Wind northeasterly 15-35 km/h. Temperatures around -5C.THURSDAY: A mix of sun and cloud. Wind west 10-20 km/h. Temperature around -5C.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanche observations to report in the region.

Snowpack Summary

The critical parts of the snowpack under current conditions are wind slabs in exposed areas, and, for low snow areas such as the Chilcotins, a layer of faceted snow from mid-December that in those areas is buried under about 50 cm of snow. Most parts of the region saw 60-90 cm new snow last week, which is reported to be generally bonding well. A facet/surface hoar layer was buried on Boxing Day (surface hoar up to 5 mm was observed in the Duffey Lake area), but does not seem to have turned into a major concern. The mid-December interface is now down over 1 m in most parts and is generally considered to be stable, except in shallow snowpack areas as mentioned above, where snowpack tests indicate it could still be a viable failure plane.

Regions covered