Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Dec 7th, 2015 7:56AM

The alpine rating is below threshold, the treeline rating is below threshold, and the below treeline rating is below threshold. Known problems include Storm Slabs.

esharp, Avalanche Canada

Northwest Inland.

The snow load on a layer of buried surface hoar may be reaching the threshold for surprisingly large avalanches, especially at tree-line.

Summary

Confidence

Low - Due to the number of field observations

Weather Forecast

A series of powerful storms are going to wallop the coast over the coming days bringing heavy precipitation and strong winds that should spill over into the inland regions. Â Tuesday should see snowfall accumulations of between 5 and 15 cm.Â With another 10cm expected by Friday. Â Winds will be moderate to strong from the southwest and freezing levels should stay below 1000m.

Avalanche Summary

It sounds like there were touchy conditions out there over the weekend.Â Â Reports of some large skier triggered and skier controlled avalanches from tree-line suggest that the load on the recently buried surface hoar is reaching critical levels.

Snowpack Summary

New snow is falling on a variety of old surfaces including a crust at lower elevations and south facing slopes, or facets and surface hoar on cooler shaded features.Â The distribution of surface hoar is definitely our biggest knowledge gap.Â Bellow this we're still dealing with a thin early season snowpack.

Problems

Storm Slabs

A layer of surface hoar lies under the recent storm snow that could increase both it's likelihood of triggering and the size of any resulting avalanches.

Make observations and assess conditions continually as you travel. Now is a good time to dig a pit or two!>Avoid open slopes and convex rolls at and below treeline where buried surface hoar may be preserved.>

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: All elevations.

Likelihood

Likely

Expected Size

2 - 5

Valid until: Dec 8th, 2015 2:00PM