Avalanche Forecast
South Rockies
Eastern and southern parts of the region saw a lot of recent snow, which will need some time to settle. A weak layer buried 30-50cm is expected to cause trouble.
Avalanche Problem 1: Storm Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Give the recent storm snow plenty of time to bond to underlying layers.
- Use conservative route selection, choose moderate angled and supported terrain with low consequence.
Avalanche Summary
An avalanche cycle was reported from the east of the region where higher snow amounts occurred. Avalanche activity is likely to decline with cooler, drier weather.
Snowpack Summary
In the southern and eastern parts of this region, up to 70 cm of snow has fallen in recent storms, combined with variable winds. In the Elk Valley, the amount of new snow is more like 30 cm. The new snow has fallen on a variety of surfaces including old crusts, wind-scoured surfaces and, in sheltered terrain at and below treeline, very large feathery surface hoar crystals. The two crusts that were buried near the end of November can be found lower in the snowpack. A third crust from the end of October exists near the base of the snowpack. Recent testing on this crust did not produce significant results.
Weather Forecast
Thursday: mostly dry during the day, light snow starting late afternoon. Moderate westerly winds. Treeline temperatures around -18C in the morning, warming to about -10C.
Friday: Expect 4-10 cm on the ground in the morning from light overnight snow that may continue until noon. Winds becoming light easterly. Treeline temperatures around -14C.
Saturday: Dry and sunny and cold. Temperatures around -20C or lower. Winds moderate northwesterly.
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
- South Rockies URL:
http://www.avalanche.ca/api/forecasts/south-rockies.rss - Copy the url and paste it into the appropriate field of your RSS aggregator.
- Fill in your email address.
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Storm and wind slabs are sitting over a variable snow surface that may slide readily in some places (but not all). The snow needs time to bond!