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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 18th, 2025–Feb 19th, 2025

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

Regions

Lizard-Flathead, Flathead, Lizard.

The weather forecast calls for a gradual warming trend in the coming days. Watch for persistent slabs to become more reactive.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

There have been numerous, small to large (size1 to 2) dry loose avalanches, both natural- and rider-triggered reported running in steep terrain over the past few days. There have been whumpfs reported on the weekend just outside the ski area in Fernie.

Snowpack Summary

20 to 30 cm of snow has fallen since last Friday. This storm snow is sitting on 30 to 60 cm of faceted old snow. Below this is a persistent weak layer buried in late January, which is a crust on sun-exposed slopes, and facets and/or surface hoar elsewhere.

The mid and lower snowpack is generally well settled, with no other layers of concern.

Weather Summary

Tuesday Night

Mostly clear. 20 to 30 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -15 °C.

Wednesday

Mix of sun and clouds. 15 to 25 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C.

Thursday

Mostly cloudy with isolated flurries. 15 to 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.

Friday

Mostly cloudy with isolated flurries. 20 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Fresh snow rests on a problematic persistent slab, don't let good riding lure you into complacency.
  • Make observations and continually assess conditions as you travel.
  • Loose avalanches may step down to deeper layers, resulting in larger avalanches.

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.

Loose Dry

Loose Dry avalanches are the release of dry unconsolidated snow and typically occur within layers of soft snow near the surface of the snowpack. These avalanches start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-dry avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs.