Avalanche forecast

South Rockies

Dec 8 – 9, 2014Avalanche Canada
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Archived · expired 12 years ago

Avalanche danger

Wed
Thu
Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

Observations have been extremely limited. If you have any snowpack or avalanche information you can upload it to our new Mountain Information Network. Check out the details at: http://www.avalanche.ca/blogs/VIYBuScAAJdbdqPz/m-i-n-intro

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible - Likely
    Size
    1–2
    Strong winds have developed windslabs in the alpine and at treeline in areas with snow available for transport. Forecast new snow and wind may form new windslabs in exposed terrain.

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–5
    A deeply buried crust with a weak layer of facets or surface hoar at the interface may exist in some parts of this region. Dig down and locate the crust, and then test how the upper snowpack is bonding to the crust.

Confidence

Poor - Due to the number of field observations

Weather Forecast

Despite a strong southwest flow, only modest amounts of precipitation (about 5mm/day) are expected over the forecast period. Freezing levels are expected to peak at about 2300m on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then drop to about 1900m on Thursday. Strong southwest winds are forecast for the entire period.

Avalanche Summary

No avalanche activity reported. If you've witnessed any avalanches, please send a note to [email protected]

Snowpack Summary

There is at least one, maybe more, problematic layers in the South Rockies snowpack. Last weekends 30 - 60cm of storm snow buried a weak layer of facets over a crust which formed during November's dry spell. That interface is probably around a meter down now. Not much is known about the reactivity of this layer, nor the slab above it. But, it doesn't take much of a leap of faith to understand that a meter deep slab sitting on a persistent weak layer is a potentially bad thing.

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