Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Dec 12th, 2011 8:51AM
The alpine rating is Wind Slabs and Persistent Slabs.
, the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is Known problems includeSummary
Confidence
Fair - Intensity of incoming weather is uncertain
Weather Forecast
Tuesday & Wednesday: A weak ridge is giving a couple more dry days. Expect light westerly winds and daytime highs of -5 under clear skies or high cloud. Thursday: Clouds are likely to develop in the morning with a chance of light flurries throughout the day. Continued westerly winds with daytime temperatures climbing to -5.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches.
Snowpack Summary
Around 3cm of new snow has fallen in the past couple of days. This overlies surface hoar (as large as 10mm in protected areas), surface facets, the odd old windslab and sun crusts (on steep south through west aspects). The new snow has fallen with limited winds effect. All of these newly buried surfaces are good sliding interfaces; all that's lacking is a large enough load. As more snow arrives and/or the wind picks up (as per the forecast) the avalanche danger will increase. Due to the slow, incremental increase in load (dribs and drabs of new snow and sporadic winds), this increase in danger is difficult to pinpoint and could be very site specific. Snow depths are quite variable through the region with 130-150cm in the alpine. There is still concern for triggering the weak basal facets/depth hoar, as these layers have shown sudden collapse results in stability test in shallow areas.
Problems
Wind Slabs
Aspects: North, North East, East, South East, South.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Persistent Slabs
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Dec 13th, 2011 8:00AM