Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Dec 29th, 2025–Dec 30th, 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.

Below Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Alpine

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Below Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

South Coast, North Shore, Sasquatch, Sky Pilot, Tetrahedron.

High freezing levels and clear skies are creating heightened avalanche danger on steep slopes.

Back off steep slopes as the surface becomes moist or wet, and be aware of overhead hazards.

Confidence

Moderate

Uncertainty is due to rapidly fluctuating freezing levels.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanche activity reported.

Freezing levels up to 3000 m are forecast for today with clear skies. Natural wet loose avalanches are expected, and more reactive on steep open terrain features exposed to the sun.

Snowpack Summary

Moist surface snow overlies settling, wind-affected storm snow from last week.

In some areas, a temperature crust formed on Christmas Eve can be found 20–30 cm below the surface.

A softer layer of snow may be preserved between the moist surface snow and the 130 cm mid to lower snowpack, which rests on the December 16 melt-freeze crust.

Weather Summary

Monday Night
Clear skies. 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 3 °C. Freezing level 2700 m.

Tuesday
Mostly sunny. 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 4 °C. Freezing level 2900 m.

Wednesday
Mostly sunny. 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 3 °C. Freezing level 2500 m.

Thursday
Mix of sun and clouds. Isolated precipitation, 1 to 2 cm above 2200 m. 20 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 2 °C. Freezing level 2200 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

Back off slopes as the surface becomes moist or wet with rising temperatures.
Rocks will heat up with daytime warming and may become trigger points for loose wet avalanches.
Carefully evaluate steep lines for wind slabs.

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.

Wind Slabs

Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.