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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 23rd, 2024–Mar 24th, 2024

Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Sea To Sky, Brandywine, Garibaldi, Homathko, Spearhead, Tantalus, Sky Pilot.

While avalanche hazard is improving with cooling temperatures, human-triggered persistent slab avalanches remain a concern in areas not capped by a thick surface crust.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches have been reported in the region.

If you are heading into the backcountry please consider posting your observations to the Mountain Information Network. We read every report!

Snowpack Summary

A dusting of snow overlies a melt-freeze crust that covers the surface of the snowpack everywhere but north-facing terrain above 2000 m where the surface remained dry through the prolonged warming. Below the crust is 50 to 80 cm of moist snow.

100 to 250 cm down is a weak layer of facets overlying a crust. This layer was the culprit in many very large avalanches through the extended warm period. Uncertainty remains around how long this layer will persist with cooler temperatures.

Below the crust, the snowpack is well settled.

Weather Summary

Saturday night

Clear. 10 to 30 km/h northeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C. Freezing level 1000 m.

Sunday

Sunny. 10 to 20 km/h northeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1 °C. Freezing level 1600 m.

Monday

Cloudy with up to 5 cm of snow. 10 to 20 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 1300 m.

Tuesday

Cloudy with up to 5 cm of snow. 10 to 30 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C. Freezing level 1200 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Use caution on large alpine slopes, especially around thin areas that may propagate to deeper instabilities.
  • Minimize exposure to steep, sun exposed slopes, especially when the solar radiation is strong.
  • A crust on the surface will help bind the snow together, but may make for tough travel conditions.

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.