Avalanche forecast

Northwest Coastal

Jan 17 – 18, 2012Avalanche Canada
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Avalanche danger

Thu
Fri
Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
3 · Considerable
Below
2 · Moderate
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Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    2–5
    Strong winds out of the North - East associated with Arctic Air have formed widespread wind slabs. Watch for wind slabs & cross loaded slopes in wind exposed areas at all elevations. Choose travel routes carefully to avoid wind loaded snow.

  • Loose Dry

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    1–3
    Watch for sluffing in the top 30 cm of the snowpack in areas that are sheltered from the wind.

Confidence

Fair - Due to limited field observations

Weather Forecast

The region remains in the grasp of an Arctic Air mass. It looks like this pattern will persist through at least Friday. Wednesday looks very similar to today. Brutally cold temperatures: At 1500 m expect a high of -18 and low of -30. Winds will continue to blow at moderate to strong values out of the E, NE at all elevations. Bundle up!

Avalanche Summary

Several natural slab avalanches to size 2 were reported on S through SW facing slopes on Monday. Skiers were able to trigger small wind slabs at TL Monday too.

Snowpack Summary

Outflow winds have redistributed the low density snow from the last storm into widespread hard & soft slabs that can be found in the alpine and at treeline. In wind sheltered areas the storm snow has been bonding quite well to the old snow surface, but it's getting pretty tough to find wind sheltered areas with the recent onslaught of brutally cold arctic winds. A thin wind slab is being reported in wind exposed areas below treeline as well. Snowpack depths vary from 3.5 to 5 m across the region. In this part of the province, the mid-December surface hoar/facet combo layer is inactive as it's now 2.5 m below the snow surface. For the most part, avalanche concerns are limited to storm snow instabilities.

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