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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 7th, 2024–Mar 8th, 2024

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

Regions

South Okanagan, Shuswap, North Okanagan.

Evaluate terrain carefully. Steep open slopes may have a buried weak layer capable of producing large avalanches.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

Reports from this region have been limited, with a few small slab avalanches over the past week (size 1 to 1.5). However, neighboring regions have reported numerous large to very large natural and human-triggered persistent slab avalanches. Although not as large or likely in this region, triggering persistent slabs is still a concern.

Snowpack Summary

Surface conditions currently include sun crusts, wind-affected snow, and settling powder.

A widespread crust that formed in early February is buried roughly 40 to 80 cm deep, possibly with a weak layer of facets above it. In neighbouring regions, this layer has produced many large avalanches over the past week.

The snowpack below this crust is strong and bonded.

Weather Summary

Thursday Night

Partly cloudy. 40 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C.

Friday

Mostly cloudy with 0 to 2 cm of snow. 40 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C.

Saturday

Mostly cloudy with 0 to 2 cm of snow. 50 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C.

Sunday

Cloudy with 2 to 5 cm of snow. 40 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Choose slopes that are well supported and have limited consequence.
  • Persistent slabs have potential to pull back to lower angle terrain.
  • This avalanche problem is difficult to trigger but if so, consequences are serious.

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.