Avalanche forecast

Northwest Inland

Feb 11 – 12, 2012Avalanche Canada
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Archived · expired 15 years ago

Avalanche danger

Mon
Tue
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–3
    Isolated new wind slabs are developing in the lee of exposed terrain features.

Confidence

Good - -1

Weather Forecast

Saturday night: very light precipitation with 1-3 mm expected. Freezing level around 700 m. Strong southwesterly winds. Sunday: Winds veering to moderate northwesterly. Lingering flurries in the morning, later becoming dry as a high pressure ridge builds. Freezing level around 700 m. Monday: Dry and sunny. Light winds. Freezing level at valley bottom. Tuesday: another weak frontal system will bring light precipitation and moderate southwesterly winds.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches have been reported.

Snowpack Summary

A very light skiff of snow may have buried a surface hoar layer that lies on top of old surfaces comprising crusts and old wind slab. However, with only a centimetre or so of new snow, it's not certain that surface hoar crystals of 5 mm or more would get properly buried. Successive melt-freeze cycles have produced crusts on all aspects at lower elevations as well as on south-facing slopes higher up. The old wind slabs are no longer causing concern in most areas. A facet layer, which formed around 20th January, is buried around 60 cm and is reported to be gaining strength. It showed hard, resistant planar results in a compression test at treeline in the Hankin area on Sunday.

Regions covered