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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 12th, 2025–Feb 13th, 2025

Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

North Columbia, South Columbia, Jordan, North Selkirk, West Purcell, Badshot-Battle, Central Selkirk, Goat, Gold, Kokanee, Retallack, Valhalla, Whatshan.

Dangerous avalanches are most likely where a firm, cohesive slab exists on the surface.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

Since the weekend, several small skier-triggered avalanches (size 1 to 1.5) were reported across the region, primarily on south-facing or solar-affected slopes. These avalanches likely occurred on weak layers of facets and/or sun crusts roughly 20 to 40 cm below the surface.

Snowpack Summary

The upper snowpack continues to facet with the current cold, clear, and dry conditions, keeping surface conditions generally soft and low-density. Variable wind effects can be found in exposed terrain at treeline and above.

Various layers buried at the end of January are approximately 20 to 50 cm below the surface. These include sun crusts on sun-affected terrain, surface hoar in shaded terrain at treeline and below, and weak faceted grains elsewhere.

The snowpack remains faceted and weak in places just below these layers following the dry January conditions.

The mid and lower snowpack is generally well-settled and strong.

Weather Summary

Wednesday Night

Clear skies. 20 to 30 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -15 °C.

Thursday

Mostly sunny. 20 to 30 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -13 °C.

Friday

Partly cloudy with 0 to 3 cm of snow. 10 to 20 km/h east ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -13 °C.

Saturday

Mix of sun and cloud. 20 to 30 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -13 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Back off if you encounter whumpfing, hollow sounds, or shooting cracks.
  • Be alert to conditions that change with elevation and sun exposure.
  • Carefully evaluate steep lines for wind slabs.
  • Be aware of the potential for loose avalanches in steep terrain where snow hasn't formed a slab.

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.