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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 17th, 2024–Mar 18th, 2024

Alpine
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Sea To Sky, Brandywine, Garibaldi, Homathko, Spearhead, Tantalus, Sky Pilot.

Very large avalanches continue to be reported.

Avoid avalanche terrain and exposure to overhead hazard until cooler weather arrives.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

Natural activity continued on Saturday, with the prolonged heat triggering avalanches up to size 3 again. Activity included persistent slabs, loose wet and wet slabs. Avalanches were most notable on thin and rocky, or sun affected slopes.

Continued persistent slab activity is expected, as well as widespread loose wet avalanches and cornice failures as warming persists.

Snowpack Summary

Around 30 cm of the upper snowpack is wet from warm temperatures and strong sunshine on south facing features at all elevations. Dry surface snow can still be found on north facing slopes in the alpine. Over 100 cm of snow from the past week is rapidly settling with these warm temperatures. This snow is producing wet loose and slab avalanches.

A weak layer of facets and crust is buried 150 to 250 cm deep. Large naturally triggered avalanches have been observed on this layer within the last 2 days.

Weather Summary

Sunday Night

Clear skies. 10-20 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Freezing level remains around 3000 m.

Monday

Sunny. 10-20 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature +8 °C with freezing level sustained at 3300 m.

Tuesday

Sunny. 30-40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature +6 °C with freezing level dropping to 2300 m in the afternoon.

Wednesday

Cloudy with light snowfall. 30-40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C with freezing level dropping to 1200 m in the afternoon.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Avoid exposure to overhead avalanche terrain, large avalanches may reach the end of run out zones.
  • Cornice failure may trigger large avalanches.
  • Keep in mind that wet avalanches can be destructive due to their high density.

Problems

Persistent Slabs

Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.

Loose Wet

Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.