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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 2nd, 2024–Jan 3rd, 2024

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

Purcells, East Purcell, West Purcell.

As you move through the terrain take the time to investigate buried weak layers before choosing your lines.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches reported since this weekend.

Small loose wet avalanches were reported on south aspects in the warm weather on Saturday.

Before the weekend, explosive-triggered wind slabs were reported to size 1.5 in the northwest Purcells. Ski cuts produced loose dry to size 1 in the upper snowpack facets near Invermere.

Snowpack Summary

The surface and top layer of the snowpack are variable. It may consist of crusts, settled powder, unconsolidated facets, and older wind slabs. Beneath lies a complex snowpack with many layers that vary across the region.

The most prominent is a layer of surface hoar buried 20 to 50 cm deep. It is less of a concern in areas where a strong, supportive crust exists above the surface hoar layer.

The lower snowpack is typically characterized by sugary, facetted crystals and a crust.

Snowpack depths at treeline average 50 to 120 cm with significant variability across the region.

Check out this blog post for some insight into the current shallow yet complex snowpack.

Weather Summary

Tuesday Night

Mostly clear with some clouds, potential trace accumulation, ridgetop winds south 15 km/h, treeline temperature -7 °C.

Wednesday

Mix of sun and clouds, trace accumulation, ridgetop winds south 10 to 20 km/h, treeline temperature -6 °C.

Thursday

A mix of sun and cloud, 2 cm accumulation, ridgetop winds south-southwest 10 to 15 km/h, treeline temperature -7 °C.

Friday

Cloudy with late-day clearing, 2 cm accumulation, ridgetop winds southwest 10 km/h, treeline temperatures -8 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Use caution on large alpine slopes, especially around thin areas that may propagate to deeper instabilities.
  • Avoid shallow snowpack areas, rock outcroppings and steep convex terrain where triggering is most likely.
  • Carefully assess open slopes and convex rolls where buried surface hoar may be preserved.

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.

Deep Persistent Slabs

Deep Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a thick cohesive layer of hard snow (a slab), when the bond breaks between the slab and an underlying persistent weak layer deep in the snowpack. The most common persistent weak layers involved in deep, persistent slabs are depth hoar or facets surrounding a deeply buried crust. Deep Persistent Slabs are typically hard to trigger, are very destructive and dangerous due to the large mass of snow involved, and can persist for months once developed. They are often triggered from areas where the snow is shallow and weak, and are particularly difficult to forecast for and manage.