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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 21st, 2023–Jan 22nd, 2023

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

Regions

Cariboos, McBride, Quesnel, Sugarbowl, Kakwa, Renshaw, Robson, Tumbler.

Avoid wind loaded features, especially at ridge crests and on shallow rocky slopes. You may not see signs of instability but the layers are still there.

As the sun comes out, avoid travelling on or under sun exposed slopes.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

Over the past few days our field team has observed several small wind slab avalanches . Check out their latest MIN for more details.

Please continue to send in your observations through the MIN.

Snowpack Summary

New snow continues to gradually accumulate and be redistributed into wind slabs in exposed terrain. At lower elevations, a rain crust exists down around 20cm, with reported elevations extending up to 1800 m in the Cariboos and roughly 1200 m in the northern part of the region.

Snowpack depths are shallower than normal, and several buried weak layers have been a concern over the past few weeks. One is a recently buried surface hoar layer found 30 to 60cm deep in sheltered terrain features at treeline and above. At this same depth, a crust exists on steep south facing slopes. Another layer of facets, crust, and surface hoar was buried around Christmas and is now 50 to 90cm deep. Finally, a layer of large, weak facets buried in November is found near the bottom of the snowpack. This layer is likely most problematic in alpine terrain, where shallower avalanches could scrub down to these basal facets.

Recent observations suggest the buried weak layers are gaining strength, but not enough to trust them in high consequence terrain.

Weather Summary

Saturday Night

Cloudy with up to 5cm of new snow. Moderate to strong westerly winds and a low of -10 at 1800m.

Sunday

A mix of sun and cloud with the possibility of light flurries bringing trace amounts of new snow. Moderate northwest winds and a high of -8 at 1800m.

Monday

Stormy with up to 10cm of new snow expected. Strong to extreme west winds and a high of -5 at 1800m.

Tuesday

Stormy with up to 10cm of new snow expected. Strong westerly winds and freezing levels rising to 1400m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Avoid being on or under sun exposed slopes.
  • Avoid thin areas like rock outcroppings where you're most likely to trigger avalanches failing on deep weak layers.
  • Carefully assess open slopes and convex rolls where buried surface hoar may be preserved.
  • Recent wind has varied in direction so watch for wind slabs on all aspects.

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.

Wind Slabs

Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.