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 7th, 2019–Dec 8th, 2019

Alpine
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
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

Lizard-Flathead.

If we get less than 15 cm Saturday night into Sunday; treat the alpine as CONSIDERABLE. Clear skies and pow are rad, but we all need to keep the terrain choices conservative Sunday, it's a long winter and we're just getting to know our young snowpack.

Confidence

Low - Uncertainty is due to the limited number of field observations. Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain.

Weather Forecast

The weather pattern is setting up to offer the Lizard Range a decent amount of storm snow Saturday night into Sunday morning before an Arctic Ridge takes over for the work week.

SATURDAY NIGHT: Freezing level at valley bottom, moderate to strong southwest wind, 5 to 20+ cm of snow expected.

SUNDAY: Overcast at dawn, clearing by mid-morning, light to moderate northwest wind, a few cm of snow possible.

MONDAY: Broken cloud cover, freezing level at valley bottom, light variable wind, no significant precipitation expected.

TUESDAY: Broken cloud cover, freezing level at valley bottom, light southwest wind at valley bottom, potentially strong northwest wind at ridgetop, no significant precipitation expected.

Avalanche Summary

Recent reported avalanche activity is limited. Explosive control work in the Lizard Range Friday produced a size 2 avalanche which failed on the mid-November crust on an east/southeast aspect at 1900 m.  

Snowpack Summary

As of Saturday afternoon the series of storms has produced 20 cm over the last 48 hours bringing the 7 Day total to just over 40 cm.  

Crust layers from November and October can still be found deeper in the snowpack. As the load on these weak layers increases with new snow, they could become more reactive.

Snowpack depths are highly variable this early in the season with amounts ranging between 50-100 cm at higher elevations and tapering rapidly below treeline.

Problems

Storm Slabs

Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-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.