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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Dec 21st, 2022–Dec 22nd, 2022

Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Alpine
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Below Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.

Regions

Sea To Sky, Brandywine, Garibaldi, Homathko, Powell River, Spearhead, Tantalus, Sasquatch, Tetrahedron.

If pushing into steeper terrain remember even small avalanches have the potential to step down to deeper weak layers.

Check out the most recent Forecasters Blog, explaining how to manage extreme cold conditions.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

A few small (size 1) wind slabs were reported on Tuesday in wind-loaded terrain features, triggered by both skiers and explosives. Minor sluffing due to skier traffic in steep terrain has also been observed.

If you head out into the mountains, please share your photos or observations on the Mountain Information Network.

Snowpack Summary

Surface snow is cold, light, and ideal to be redistributed by the wind into drifts and stiff wind slabs. The recent snow overlays a generally well settled upper snowpack.

A few weak layers exist in the mid-snowpack consisting of facets, surface hoar, and crusts.

Total snow depths remain low for December, roughly 90 to 140 cm at treeline and up to 200 cm in the alpine.

Weather Summary

Cold arctic air continues to blanket Southwest BC until Thursday night when a warm and wet storm begins to move inland.

Wednesday night

Clear. Temperatures around -20 C and light to moderate northeast winds in the alpine.

Thursday

Sunny with cloud building throughout the day. No precipitation. Temperatures -10 to -20 C and light easterly winds.

Friday

Cloudy with snow, about 10 cm. Temperatures of -5 to -10 C, and moderate to strong southerly winds.

Saturday

Cloudy with heavy snowfall at times. Up to 30 cm. Temperatures around 0 to -5 C and strong south winds in the alpine. Freezing levels rising to roughly 1000m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind affected terrain.
  • If triggered, wind slabs avalanches may step down to deeper layers resulting in larger avalanches.

Problems

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.

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.