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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 8th, 2023–Feb 9th, 2023

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

Kootenay Boundary, Bonnington, Grohman, Kootenay Pass, Norns, Rossland, South Okanagan, Ymir, Moyie, St. Mary.

New snow from earlier in the week will take a couple of days to settle and bond. In the meantime also pay attention to the direction of the wind as you travel through wind exposed areas – there is a lot of snow available to build wind slabs.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

On Tuesday there were a few reports of skier triggered storm slab avalanches to size 1 and 1.5. As well, there were explosives controlled avalanches to size 2 and 2.5 on southerly aspects between 1900 and 2100m.

Snowpack Summary

20-30 cm of new snow is being redistributed by southwest winds and sits on top of previously formed wind slabs in exposed terrain.

In terrain sheltered from the wind, small surface hoar crystals may be found 50-90 cm from the surface. At a similar depth, you may also find a melt-freeze crust on sun-exposed slopes and below 1900 m.

Deeper weak layers in the snowpack have not recently produced avalanches, but they may become reactive again if there is a rapid change in the weather.

The lower snowpack contains weak and faceted grains.

Weather Summary

Wednesday Night

Mainly cloudy with clear periods. Light to moderate southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature around -7 °C.

Thursday

Mix of sun and cloud. Light to moderate southwest wind. Treeline temperatures around -4 °C.

Friday

Cloudy with scattered flurries, accumulation 2-5 cm. Moderate southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature around -5 °C.

Saturday

Mostly cloudy. Light west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature around -6 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Continue to make conservative terrain choices while the storm snow settles and stabilizes.
  • Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind affected terrain.

Problems

Storm Slabs

Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-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.