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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Dec 20th, 2022–Dec 21st, 2022

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

Regions

South Coast Inland, Birkenhead, Duffey, South Chilcotin, Stein, Taseko.

While pushing into bigger terrain steer clear of wind drifts and firm wind slabs that overly a generally shallow, and unconsolidated, weak snowpack.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanche activity has been reported over the last few days.

If you head out into the mountains, please share your photos or observations on the Mountain Information Network. Your information helps us understand local conditions!

Snowpack Summary

Cold temperatures continue to facet the upper snowpack. Surface snow is generally low-density and unconsolidated, making it ideal to be redistributed by the wind.

Buried by recent snowfalls is a layer of large, feathery surface hoar crystals. Reports suggest it is buried by 15 to 30 cm of low-density snow.

The lower snowpack consists of weak facetted crystals and even depth hoar in shallow areas.

In general, the snowpack is highly variable, ranging from 50 to 200 cm around treeline.

Weather Summary

Tuesday night

Clearing, with isolated flurries. Temperatures around -25 C and light Northeast winds in the alpine.

Wednesday

Sunny, and no precipitation. Temperatures -20 to -30 C and light Northeast winds.

Thursday

Sunny with periods of cloud, and no precipitation. Temperatures -15 to -25 C and light Northeast winds.

Friday

Cloudy with trace amounts of snow. Temperatures of -5 to -15 C, and moderate Southwest winds.

Thursday

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Expect slab conditions to change drastically as you move into wind exposed 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.

Deep Persistent Slabs

Deep Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a thick cohesive layer of hard snow (a slab), when the bond breaks between the slab and an underlying persistent weak layer deep in the snowpack. The most common persistent weak layers involved in deep, persistent slabs are depth hoar or facets surrounding a deeply buried crust. Deep Persistent Slabs are typically hard to trigger, are very destructive and dangerous due to the large mass of snow involved, and can persist for months once developed. They are often triggered from areas where the snow is shallow and weak, and are particularly difficult to forecast for and manage.