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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Dec 15th, 2022–Dec 16th, 2022

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

Regions

South Coast, Powell River, Tantalus, North Shore, Sasquatch, Sky Pilot, Tetrahedron.

Watch for changing surface conditions throughout the day. Rising freezing levels and sun increase the likelihood of loose wet avalanches.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches have been reported in the past few days. We expect loose wet avalanches in steep terrain from sun and rising freezing levels.

If you head out into the mountains, please share your photos or observations on the Mountain Information Network. Your information helps us understand local conditions!

Snowpack Summary

Surface conditions range from a crust on sun affected slopes to surface hoar in sheltered and shaded terrain features. The rising temperatures will likely melt the surface snow and create a widespread crust once temperatures cool again.

50-70 cm of recent snow is settling, sitting over crusts on sun affected slopes, and surface hoar in shaded areas. The mid and lower snowpack consists of layers of well bonded snow and melt freeze crusts.

At 1000 m the snowpack depth is around 150 cm. In many areas, below treeline elevations are still below the threshold for avalanches.

Weather Summary

Thursday Night

Clear skies. Moderate northerly winds. Freezing level remains around 2300 m overnight.

Friday

Clear skies. Alpine temperatures reach a high of 3 °C. Moderate northwest winds. Freezing level peaks at 2500 m late afternoon.

Saturday

Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries. Alpine temperatures reach a high of -3 °C. Freezing level around 300 metres. Moderate to strong northwest winds.

Sunday

5 cm possible overnight.

Partly cloudy with light westerly winds. Freezing level below valley bottom, alpine high of -10°C. Another 5-10 cm of snow possible over the day.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • As surface loses cohesion due to melting, loose wet avalanches become common in steeper terrain.
  • Rocks will heat up with daytime warming and may become trigger points for loose wet avalanches
  • Loose avalanches may start small but they can grow and push you into dangerous terrain.

Problems

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.