Dashboard Regions Weather Stations Radar Alerts Glossary
Contact About
Log In

Register for an account and never miss a forecast again!

Register

Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Dec 8th, 2011–Dec 9th, 2011

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

Regions

Kootenay Boundary.

Confidence

Fair - Due to limited field observations

Weather Forecast

A strong ridge of high pressure remains anchored off the BC coast & will continue to influence the region through the weekend. The good news is that the ridge begins to break down early next week which means that conditions will be more favorable for snow in the interior ranges. For Friday, winds will continue to be out of the W-SW at light to moderate values. We'll see a slight temperature inversion in the Alpine Friday, but I'm not expecting anything too dramatic. Freezing levels should creep down to at least 800m, likely a bit lower on Friday night. Mostly sunny skies are forecasted for Friday with a daytime high of -2 @ 1500 m & an overnight low of -11. Saturday looks very similar with a smidge more cloud building into the region.

Avalanche Summary

No recent avalanche activity has been reported. If you have any avalanche observations to report, please email us at: [email protected].

Snowpack Summary

Some great observations have come our way recently. While there are a few players in the snowpack, none of them seem to be doing anything at the moment. A rain crust is present just below the snow surface below 1800m. The crust, in combination with cool temperatures, has really settled things out at & below treeline. My main concern is the odd lingering windslab still scratching out a living in the alpine. But, I know that this is less & less of an issue every day. I'm thinking about bringing the Alpine Danger down to Low for the weekend. In order to feel comfortable with that I need some more feedback/observations. If you're out & about please drop me a line & let me know what you're seeing: [email protected] snowpack sounds pretty well organized at the moment. A bit of soft fist snow can be found in upper elevations with a good tight midpack consisting of more dense snow below. The alpine is holding 150-200cm. Treeline depths are between 50 -150cm. Recent snowpack observations indicate that the late October rain crust is present in the alpine elevations and down approximately 120cm. This crust is said to be up to 5mm in thickness with faceting below it. For the moment the crust seems to be bridging over the facets below, with a well settled 1F - P midpack above.

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.