January 28, 2002

Canadian Avalanche Association Bulletin

SOUTH COLUMBIA REGION

WEATHER: 40-100cm of storm snow has fallen and light amounts continue to
accumulate in some areas. Moderate to strong, variable direction winds were
reported. Temperatures just started to cool significantly on Sunday, Jan 27.
Light precipitation is expected to continue, with temperatures warming.
SNOWPACK: There has been significant settlement in the storm snow and
generally moderate shears are being seen. This stabilization is less
apparent in the northern Purcells, where easy shears in the storm snow
persist. A weakening crust is buried 70-150cm deep below 1900m and a couple
of surface hoar layers persist as well, down 60-100cm. Shears are generally
in the moderate range on all of these layers. Finally, in the Purcells  the
November crust has just received another big load and may be conducive to
triggering by light loads in thinner snowpack areas. Continued light
precipitation will keep slowly loading all these instabilities.
AVALANCHES: Widespread avalanches to size 3.5 have been reported since the
last bulletin. Although natural activity has subsided, large avalanches
continue to run with explosive control work.
FORECAST OF AVALANCHE DANGER UP TO THURSDAY EVENING (JAN 31)
ALPINE - Considerable
TREELINE - Considerable
BELOW TREELINE - Considerable
TRAVEL ADVISORY: There is a wide variability in the south Columbias.
Although natural avalanche activity has tapered off, weak layers persist in
the top meter of the snowpack. Consider sticking to moderate terrain. Blue
skies and good skiing/riding do not mean we can go everywhere! Significant
amounts of new snow, strong winds, or a rapid rise in temperatures could
cause the danger to quickly increase again.