|
It has been brought my attention that there has
been an avalanche fatality in the Rocky Mountains. Ice climbers on a route in
Kananaskis Country were struck by an avalanche yesterday. I have no details at
this time.
In the Revelstoke area, a decent early-season
snowfall has been followed by rising temperatures and rain. I'm not sure
how high the freezing levels are at the moment but it looks like they are
rising and it looks likely that there will be rain to mountain-top in the
coming 24 hours. We've probably had 20mm in the cental Columbia Mtns last
night and today and it looks like another 20 - 40mm at valley bottom elevations
in the coming 24 hours. If this weather happens as forecast, there will be
heavier, warmer, moister snow will overlying
lighter, cooler, dryer snow--this may already be the case and if it is, it'll
only get worse before it gets better.
I'd be concerned about the short-term avalanche
danger in the coming days as temps rise and rain loads and thaws the recently
fallen new snow.
Be careful if you go into the mountains in the
coming days. Remember that what you see at the trail-head is going to be very
different than what is happening above you. Especially if the weather is poor
and visibility is limited, it'll be quite difficult to know what's going on at
higher elevations.
Karl Klassen
|