Avalanche Forecast
South Columbia
Convective snowfall and strong southwest winds are expected to quickly form touchy new storm slabs. Seek out supported lines around sheltered lower elevations on Friday.
Avalanche Problem 1: Storm Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Be especially careful with wind loaded pockets near ridge crests and roll-overs.
- Give cornices a wide berth when travelling on or below ridges.
- Minimize overhead exposure during periods of heavy loading from new snow and wind.
Avalanche Summary
Reports from Wednesday were limited to small wind slab ski cuts as well as natural and ski cut loose wet releases to size 1.5. Adjacent regions have continued to show isolated small (size 1) ski cut and skier-triggered storm slabs on various aspects in the alpine. These have been failing on recently buried crust and surface hoar layers down 20 -30 cm.
Reports from earlier in the week included several small (size 1-1.5) storm slabs that were ski cut and skier-triggered on steeper alpine slopes on a range of aspects.
On Saturday there were several reports of solar-triggered cornice and glide crack failures up to size 3 on predominantly south to west aspects at all elevations.
Looking forward, avalanche danger will be increasing as strong southeast winds (then southwest) and potentially heavy snowfall form new slabs over Thursday night. These newly formed slabs are likely to be touchy and reactive to human triggering over the near term. The convective nature of forecast snowfall suggests that localized pockets of enhanced precipitation may lead to increased avalanche danger in parts of the region.
Snowpack Summary
Recent light snowfalls (10-20 cm) have been followed by warm daytime temperatures and glimpses of sun, setting up a couple of thin storm snow layers over temperature and sun crusts on south aspects. On shaded aspects at higher elevations, the recent snow has buried a couple of surface hoar layers now found up to 40 cm deep. Mainly small loose dry releases have been observed on the shallowest of these layers (down about 15cm), while the deepest (down 40 cm) has been the failure plane in a few slab avalanches.
New snow amounts taper with elevation and below 1900 m, minimal accumulations have buried a supportive crust on all aspects. This crust will likely break down with daytime warming, becoming moist in the afternoon.
Deeper persistent weak layers from January and December are generally considered dormant, but could wake up with a surface avalanche stepping down, large cornice fall, or a human trigger in a shallow or variable-depth snowpack area. These layers consist of sun crust, surface hoar and/or facets.
Weather Forecast
Thursday night: Flurries bringing 10-15 cm of new snow. Moderate to strong southeast winds shifting to southwest.
Friday: Cloudy with continuing flurries and another 5-10 cm of new snow with locally enhanced amounts, continuing overnight. Moderate to strong southwest winds. Freezing level to 1000 metres with alpine high temperatures around -9.
Saturday: A mix of sun and cloud with continuing isolated flurries and another trace to 5 cm of new snow, continuing overnight. Light southwest winds. Freezing level to 1000 metres with alpine high temperatures around -9.
Sunday: A mix of sun and cloud. Light southwest winds. Freezing level to 1000 metres with alpine high temperatures around -9.
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?
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a popular standardized file format allowing up-to-date delivery of web-based content. RSS feeds enable you to receive content updates from websites, delivered to your email through an RSS aggregator (such as blogtrottr.com) or viewed through applications called RSS readers (such as feedly.com).
Set up an RSS feed for your email:
Select a RSS aggregator
- South Columbia URL:
http://www.avalanche.ca/api/forecasts/south-columbia.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
Avalanche Canada's Public Avalanche Bulletin, and other information and services provided by Avalanche Canada, are intended for personal and recreational purposes only.
**THIS INFORMATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND IN NO EVENT SHALL THE PROVIDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES RESULTING FROM DISCOMFORT, INJURY, OR DEATH, CLAIMS BY THIRD PARTIES OR FOR OTHER SIMILAR COSTS, OR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF THE INFORMATION.**
The user acknowledges that it is impossible to accurately predict natural events such as avalanches in every instance, and uses the data in this bulletin with this always foremost in mind. The accuracy or reliability of the data is not guaranteed or warranted in any way and the Providers disclaim liability of any kind whatsoever, including, without limitation, liability for quality, performance, merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose arising out of the use, or inability to use the data.
New storm slabs will continue to build over Thursday night and Friday under the influence of strong southwest winds. Convective precipitation means that some areas may see locally enhanced accumulations and greater avalanche danger.