Avalanche Forecast

Northwest Inland

Date issued

Jan 5, 2018 - 5:02 PM

Valid until

Jan 6, 2018 - 2:00 PM

Prepared by

mgrist

Some snow in the forecast but not enough to influence avalanche danger in the short term.

Regular season
Friday - January 5, 2018
Alpine

2 - Moderate

Heightened avalanche conditions on specific terrain features. Evaluate snow and terrain carefully; identify features of concern.

Natural avalanches unlikely; human-triggered avalanches possible.

Small avalanches in specific areas; or large avalanches in isolated areas.

Treeline

1 - Low

Generally safe avalanche conditions. Watch for unstable snow on isolated terrain features.

Natural and human-triggered avalanches unlikely.

Small avalanches in isolated areas or extreme terrain.

Below Treeline

1 - Low

Generally safe avalanche conditions. Watch for unstable snow on isolated terrain features.

Natural and human-triggered avalanches unlikely.

Small avalanches in isolated areas or extreme terrain.

Saturday - January 6, 2018
Alpine

2 - Moderate

Heightened avalanche conditions on specific terrain features. Evaluate snow and terrain carefully; identify features of concern.

Natural avalanches unlikely; human-triggered avalanches possible.

Small avalanches in specific areas; or large avalanches in isolated areas.

Treeline

1 - Low

Generally safe avalanche conditions. Watch for unstable snow on isolated terrain features.

Natural and human-triggered avalanches unlikely.

Small avalanches in isolated areas or extreme terrain.

Below Treeline

1 - Low

Generally safe avalanche conditions. Watch for unstable snow on isolated terrain features.

Natural and human-triggered avalanches unlikely.

Small avalanches in isolated areas or extreme terrain.

Sunday - January 7, 2018
Alpine

2 - Moderate

Heightened avalanche conditions on specific terrain features. Evaluate snow and terrain carefully; identify features of concern.

Natural avalanches unlikely; human-triggered avalanches possible.

Small avalanches in specific areas; or large avalanches in isolated areas.

Treeline

1 - Low

Generally safe avalanche conditions. Watch for unstable snow on isolated terrain features.

Natural and human-triggered avalanches unlikely.

Small avalanches in isolated areas or extreme terrain.

Below Treeline

1 - Low

Generally safe avalanche conditions. Watch for unstable snow on isolated terrain features.

Natural and human-triggered avalanches unlikely.

Small avalanches in isolated areas or extreme terrain.

Avalanche Problem 1: Wind Slabs

What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?

Lingering pockets of wind slab may exist on a range of aspects at higher elevations as wind directions have varied over the past week.

Travel and Terrain Advice
  • Use ridges or ribs to avoid pockets of wind loaded snow.
  • Be cautious as you transition into wind affected terrain.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches have been reported in the past few days. See here for conditions in a recent MIN report from Mt Harvey in the Babines.

Snowpack Summary

Only 3-5 cm of wet heavy snow fell on Thursday. This new snow sits on a wide variety of surfaces which had been affected by warming temperatures and variable winds. The degree of wind effect varies throughout the region. Sheltered areas may still have 10-30 cm of powder from previous storms.

A variable weak layer that formed in mid-December can be found roughly 20 cm below the surface. This mid-December layer is comprised of crusts on solar aspects and feathery surface hoar in sheltered locations.

The lower snowpack is generally well settled with two prominent crusts. The late-November crust can be found 30-50 cm below the surface and the October crust is near the base of the snowpack.

Weather Forecast

Cloudy with isolated flurries and limited accumulation throughout the forecast period.

SATURDAY: Cloudy with flurries / Moderate southwest wind / Alpine temperature -5

SUNDAY: Cloudy with isolated flurries / Light to moderate west wind / Alpine temperature -6

MONDAY: Cloudy with isolated flurries (5cm possible) / Light southeast wind / Alpine temperature -6

Danger Ratings Explained

1 - Low

Generally safe avalanche conditions. Watch for unstable snow on isolated terrain features.

Natural and human-triggered avalanches unlikely.

Small avalanches in isolated areas or extreme terrain.

2 - Moderate

Heightened avalanche conditions on specific terrain features. Evaluate snow and terrain carefully; identify features of concern.

Natural avalanches unlikely; human-triggered avalanches possible.

Small avalanches in specific areas; or large avalanches in isolated areas.

3 - Considerable

Dangerous avalanche conditions. Careful snowpack evaluation, cautious route-finding and conservative decision-making essential.

Natural avalanches possible; human-triggered avalanches likely.

Small avalanches in many areas; or large avalanches in specific areas; or very large avalanches in isolated areas.

4 - High

Very dangerous avalanche conditions. Travel in avalanche terrain not recommended.

Natural avalanches likely; human-triggered avalanches very likely.

Large avalanches in many areas; or very large avalanches in specific areas.

5 - Extreme

Avoid all avalanche terrain.

Natural and human-triggered avalanches certain.

Large to very large avalanches in many areas.

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.

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Set up an RSS feed for your email:

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  1. Northwest Inland URL: http://www.avalanche.ca/api/forecasts/northwest-inland.rss
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