Dashboard Regions Weather Stations Radar Alerts Glossary
Contact About
Log In

Register for an account and never miss a forecast again!

Register

Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 16th, 2023–Mar 17th, 2023

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.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Vancouver Island, East Island, North Island, South Island, West Island.

Use extra caution wherever you find a moist snow surface in steep terrain.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

We didn't received any new avalanche observations for the past couple days.

Looking forward, warm air and sunny skies could form loose wet avalanches during daytime warming, particularly on steep, sun-exposed slopes.

Snowpack Summary

Around 20 to 30 cm of recent storm snow is consolidating and bonding to the snowpack. Thicker deposits may be found in lee terrain features near ridges due to strong southwest wind. With a rising freezing level and sunny skies, expect sun-exposed slopes and low elevations to have a moist snow surface during the day, which may freezing into a hard melt-freeze crust overnight. A dry snow surface should prevail on shaded aspects at higher elevations.

The middle and lower snowpack are consolidated and strong, containing numerous thick and hard melt-freeze crusts.

Weather Summary

Thursday Night

Clear skies with no precipitation, 20 km/h southeast wind, treeline temperature -2 °C, freezing level 1000 m.

Friday

Partly cloudy with no precipitation, 20 km/h southeast wind, treeline temperature 2 °C, freezing level 1500 m.

Saturday

Partly cloudy with no precipitation, 30 km/h southeast wind, treeline temperature 3 °C, freezing level 1600 m.

Sunday

Cloudy with snow or rain, accumulation 5 to 10 cm, 30 to 40 km/h south wind, treeline temperature 0 °C, freezing level 1200 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Minimize exposure to sun-exposed slopes when the solar radiation is strong.
  • Pay attention to cornices and give them a wide berth when traveling on or below ridges.

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.