Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Mar 31st, 2023 4:00PM

The alpine rating is moderate, the treeline rating is moderate, and the below treeline rating is low. Known problems include Deep Persistent Slabs.

Avalanche Canada SH, Avalanche Canada

Email

Some light snow and cloudy conditions should minimize any solar effects over the weekend. The snowpack is still not great for this time of year, with basal facets and depth hoar the main cause for concern. Moderate danger ratings are often misunderstood. The potential for deep persistent, large avalanches is possible which should factor into your terrain choices.

Summary

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches were reported or observed today with minimal solar heating.

Snowpack Summary

Surface crusts exist to ridgetop on solar aspects. On polar aspects, 10-25cm of storm snow sits over a facetted interface from March 25th and buried temperature crusts below 1500 m. The lower snowpack remains weaker, with depth hoar producing sudden test failures in various locations.

Weather Summary

Saturday: Increasing SW winds 30-40 kmh and trace to 5cm over the day. Freezing levels will rise to 1400-1600m in the afternoon.

Sunday: A few more cm of snow during the day with winds shifting to light from the E/NE in the afternoon. Another 5-10cm is possible Sunday evening along the East slopes.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Avoid thin areas like rock outcroppings where you're most likely to trigger avalanches failing on deep weak layers.

Problems

Deep Persistent Slabs

An icon showing Deep Persistent Slabs

The lower snowpack consists of several weak layers that remain a concern.  A combination of basal facets and crusts is still possible to trigger. Avalanches have been releasing on the deeper layers over the past week mainly related to heating (but not all). Snowpack tests are still producing moderate to hard sudden collapse results.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: All elevations.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

2 - 3.5

Valid until: Apr 1st, 2023 4:00PM