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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Dec 4th, 2013–Dec 5th, 2013

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

Regions

Northwest Coastal.

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Confidence

Poor - Due to the number of field observations

Weather Forecast

Thursday: Mainly sunny. Treeline temperatures should hover between -5 and -10 and Alpine winds remain moderate to strong from the North. Friday and Saturday: Mainly sunny. Temperatures could drop slightly and northerly outflow winds continue.

Avalanche Summary

Recent observations near Shames include a few natural wind slab avalanche up to Size 3 in steep lee and cross-loaded terrain from northerly outflow winds.

Snowpack Summary

Around 40 cm of recent storm snow may still need some time to bond to the previous snow surface, especially where it sits on a crust. In the Shames area on Sunday a layer of preserved stellars were giving easy to moderate but sudden planar compression test results. Northerly outflow winds are forming fresh wind slabs in exposed lee terrain and scouring windward terrain. Below approximately 1000m surface hoar is growing on sheltered slopes, while surface snow on steep sun-exposed slopes is becoming moist with daytime warming. Average snowpack depths near treeline are around a metre with the bottom half being a crust.

Problems

Wind Slabs

Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind 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.