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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 15th, 2024–Mar 16th, 2024

Alpine
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Below Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Alpine
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Below Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Alpine
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Below Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.

Regions

Coquihalla, Manning, Skagit.

⚠️ Avoid all avalanche terrain ⚠️

Natural avalanches are expected as heat continues to weaken the snowpack.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

Widespread wet avalanche activity was observed on Thursday, up to size 2.5. Avalanches were only observed in the recent storm snow and not reported to have stepped down to the buried weak layers.

Check out this MIN report from Zupjok on Thursday.

Continued activity is expected - with possible persistent slabs, widespread loose wet avalanches, and cornice failures as warming persists.

Snowpack Summary

Expect to find moist or wet snow at all elevations. 30-50 cm of snow from the past week is rapidly settling over a variety of layers including a thin sun crust on south aspects.

There has been evidence of two persistent weak layers roughly 80 to 120 cm deep of facets, crust, and surface hoar. While we have not received many reports of persistent slab avalanches in this region these layers do exist here and neighbouring areas have seen recent very large avalanche activity on these buried weak layers.

Weather Summary

Friday Night

Clear skies. 30 km/h northeast ridgetop wind. Freezing levels remain above 3000 m.

Saturday

Sunny. 30km/h east ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature +7 °C with freezing level steady at 3200 m.

Sunday

Sunny. 20 km/h southerly ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature +7 °C with freezing level sustained at 3300 m.

Monday

Sunny. 20 km/h southerly ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature +5 °C with freezing levels remaining above 3000 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Avoid exposure to overhead avalanche terrain as temperatures increase.
  • Cornice failure may trigger large avalanches.
  • Keep in mind that wet avalanches can be destructive due to their high density.
  • If triggered loose wet 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 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.