Avalanche Forecast
Kootenay Boundary
Snowfall amounts are uncertain in the current weather pattern. Danger ratings are based on the higher forecast amounts of snow. If you see more than 30cm of new snow on Saturday it's best to avoid all avalanche terrain, free from overhead hazard.
Avalanche Problem 1: Storm Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Avoid all avalanche terrain during periods of heavy loading from new snow, wind, or rain.
- Dial back your terrain choices if you are seeing more than 25cm of new snow.
- Avoid exposure to overhead avalanche terrain, large avalanches may reach the end of run out zones.
Avalanche Problem 2: Persistent Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
The snowpack is complex and continues to produce very large avalanches on several weak layers buried 80 to 150 cm below the surface. Moderate-angled, simple terrain selection remains critical to safe mountain travel.
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Minimize overhead exposure; avalanches may reach the end of run out zones.
- Be mindful that deep instabilities are still present and have produced recent large avalanches.
- Good day to make conservative terrain choices.
Avalanche Summary
On Friday, natural and human triggered storm slab avalanches were reported, especially in areas which saw locally intense snowfall amounts in the afternoon.
Looking forward, expect newly formed wind slabs and the persistent slabs beneath them to remain reactive to human triggers with the potential for very large and destructive avalanches.
Snowpack Summary
Storm snow totals over the past two days are approximately 15-25cm, which fell with light to moderate winds from the south west.
On Monday precipitation fell as rain below about 1300 metres and a near-surface crust may exist in some areas below treeline. Where more recent precipitation fell as snow, southwest winds may have formed touchy wind slabs in high elevation lee terrain.
The critical instabilities, however, are buried well below the surface. See this video for a summary of conditions near Nelson.
A mixture of weak surface hoar and/or a crust from mid-January is buried beneath all the storm snow at 80-110cm deep. Numerous recent avalanches to size 2.5 have been reported on this layer and large, destructive avalanches at this interface remain a concern.
Below this layer lies a second crust/surface hoar interface buried early-January that is now 110-130 cm deep. Several recent avalanches have stepped down to this layer.
The mid-December surface hoar layer is buried 120-150 cm below the surface. This layer has continued to produce step down releases and "sudden" test results. It is most pronounced at tree line, but is also present below tree line .
Weather Forecast
Saturday: 5-20cm of snow possible Friday overnight into Saturday with another 5 to 30 cm potentially during the day / Moderate west winds / Freezing level around 1400m
Sunday: 5-20cm of new snow / Light southwest winds / Freezing level at 1000m
Monday: 5-15cm of new snow / Moderate westerly winds / Freezing level at 1400m
Note: Confidence is low for forecast wind values and precipitation amounts on Saturday and Sunday.
Avalanche Forecasts in your Inbox
Avalanche Canada has switched to an RSS feed for its daily forecasts. This is a much more flexible method that allows automatic delivery to your email inbox, or to an RSS reader of your choice.
What are RSS feeds?
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Set up an RSS feed for your email:
Select a RSS aggregator
- Kootenay Boundary URL:
http://www.avalanche.ca/api/forecasts/kootenay-boundary.rss - Copy the url and paste it into the appropriate field of your RSS aggregator.
- Fill in your email address.
- Voila! Watch the Avalanche Canada forecast roll into your inbox.
Forecast Disclaimer
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The current weather pattern is not handled well by forecast models and storm snow totals have large uncertainty associated with them.