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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 16th, 2024–Mar 17th, 2024

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

Regions

Coquihalla, Manning, Skagit.

⚠️ Continue to avoid avalanche terrain and exposure to overhead hazard⚠️

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

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

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.

Weather Summary

Saturday Night

Clear skies. 20km/h southerly ridgetop wind. Freezing level remains above 3000 m.

Sunday

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

Monday

Sunny. 20 km/h southerly ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature +7 °C with freezing levels remaining above 3000 m.

Tuesday

Sunny. 20-40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature +6 °C with freezing levels falling to 2500 m over the day.

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.