Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Nov 30th, 2017 8:03AM
The alpine rating is , the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is Known problems include Storm Slabs.
danyelle magnan,
Parks Canada
With continued snow and wind the slab is expected to become more reactive. Be curious and dig down to check how the storm slab is bonding to the crust (and please submit your observations via Avalanche Canada's Mountain Information Network!)
Summary
Weather Forecast
Unsettled weather is expected for the next few days before a ridge of high pressure builds next week. Today should be cloudy with sunny breaks, flurries, and moderate SW winds at ridgetop. Friday we expect 10-15cm snow and moderate SW winds continuing to load lee features. Saturday will be unsettled with mixed sun, cloud and another 5cms.
Snowpack Summary
A significant rain event last week created a series of crusts, that are now buried 40-60cm deep. The slab overlying this crust is developing, but recent observations at treeline and below indicate that the slab and crust are bonding. New windslabs are expected due to moderate to strong S'ly winds over the past 48hrs at ridgetop.
Avalanche Summary
Yesterday several natural avalanches were observed along the highway. They were primarily from North facing paths where windloading of the new snow was triggering size 2-2.5 avalanches in extreme terrain. The terrain where they were observed is comparable to steep paths in Cheops N. Skiers reported ski cutting size 1 avalanches in Ursus Trees.
Confidence
Due to the number of field observations
Problems
Storm Slabs
The storm slab continues to develop with ongoing snowfall. Deeper and more reactive pockets are expected in windloaded areas. The slab overlies a crust, and with limited observations it's hard to predict just how reactive it is.
Dig down to find and test weak layers before committing to a line.Be careful with wind loaded pockets, especially near ridge crests and roll-overs.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Dec 1st, 2017 8:00AM
