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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 23rd, 2017–Feb 24th, 2017

Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Cariboos.

Avoid lingering in runout zones and watch for shallow snowpack areas where triggering a large persistent slab avalanche remains possible.

Confidence

Moderate - Due to the number of field observations

Weather Forecast

We're into a stable and benign weather pattern with cooling temperatures and isolated flurries.FRIDAY: A mix of sun and cloud and isolated flurries, light north winds, alpine temperatures around -14 C.SATURDAY: Cloudy with light flurries in the afternoon (local accumulations up to 5 cm), light west winds, alpine temperatures around -12 C.SUNDAY: Mix of sun and cloud, light north winds, alpine temperatures around -16 C.

Avalanche Summary

Few avalanches have been reported the past few days. On Wednesday, a 35 cm deep size 1 slab was triggered by a skier on a northeast aspect and a size 2 slab was triggered by a cornice fall. Last weekend, several larger avalanches were reported, including a remotely triggered size 3 avalanche on a deep persistent weak layer near Valemount. See here for a list of recent near misses in the Cariboos and North Rockies.With cooling temperatures and benign weather, watch for isolated wind slabs at higher elevations and stay aware of the low probability - high consequence scenario of triggering a large persistent slab avalanche.

Snowpack Summary

Light flurries over the past few days have delivered 15-30 cm of low density snow. Expect to find isolated pockets with thicker wind deposits at higher elevations as well as sun crusts forming on steep south slopes. A supportive crust can be found at lower elevations (up to about 1700 m). Settling snow (40-60 cm) from last week is still bonding slowly to the early February surface hoar and facet interface. The persistent weakness from mid-January is now down about a metre and the weak facets buried in mid-December are down about 1.5 metres. These deep persistent weaknesses still have the potential to wake up and become reactive with human triggers.

Problems

Persistent Slabs

Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.

Wind Slabs

Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.