Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Feb 26th, 2015 7:16AM

The alpine rating is low, the treeline rating is low, and the below treeline rating is low. Known problems include Persistent Slabs.

Peter, Avalanche Canada

Kootenay Boundary.

We could see a dusting of snow on Friday. Not enough to raise avalanche danger, but maybe it will improve snow quality a little.

Summary

Confidence

Good - The weather pattern is stable

Weather Forecast

A weak trough of low pressure will bring some cloud and a chance of flurries on Friday. Generally weâ€™re looking at 2-5 cm with a snow line between valley bottom and 800 m. The ridge of high pressure rebuilds for the weekend resulting in mainly sunny skies. The freezing level is around 600-1000 m on Saturday and little over 1000 m on Sunday. Winds are generally light or moderate from the NW-NE.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanche activity was reported on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Snowpack Summary

The most prominent feature in the snowpack is the thick upper crust. This crust is supportive all the way to ridge crest and is effectively "capping" the snowpack, keeping riders from tickling any deeper weak layers. Surface hoar on this crust is a widespread phenomenon. On solar aspects the proud crust is on the surface (softening during the day), and on shadier aspects there may be 5 - 20 cm of settled storm snow on it. There are still weak layers in the snowpack that we'll continue to monitor, but for now these layers are dormant. We would likely need significant warming to re-activate them.

Problems

Persistent Slabs

While unlikely to be human triggered, be aware that there are still deeply buried weak layers in the snowpack. If triggered, the resulting avalanche would be large and deadly.

Be aware of thin areas and rock outcroppings where it may be possible to initiate an avalanche that fails on one of the deeply buried weak layers.>

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: Alpine.

Likelihood

Unlikely

Expected Size

3 - 6

Valid until: Feb 27th, 2015 2:00PM