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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 30th, 2024–Jan 31st, 2024

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

Regions

North Columbia, South Columbia, Jordan, Badshot-Battle, Central Selkirk, Goat, Gold, Whatshan.

Until cold temperatures lock in this warm and wet snowpack, dangerous avalanche conditions and poor riding quality will exist.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

Sunday and Monday saw, numerous large to very large slab avalanches were reported from the region up to size 3.5. Avalanche activity has been observed at all elevations and at all elevations.

Snowpack Summary

Light snowfall continues to accumulate in the high alpine and be redistributed by southerly winds. Moist snow exists to 2600 m and wet, saturated snow to 2200 m.

The stress of the new load (warm, wet upper snowpack) has been actively producing large slab avalanches failing down to the early/mid January persistent weak crust/facet layer (30-70 cm down) and the early December rain crust/ facet layer (100+ cm down).

Weather Summary

Tuesday Night

Partly cloudy with light rain expected, south alpine wind 30 to 40 km/h, freezing level around 2500 m.

Wednesday

Mostly cloudy with light rain/snow expected, southwest alpine wind 40 to 50 km/h, freezing level around 2800 m.

Thursday

Cloudy with light rain/rain possible, southeast alpine wind km/h, freezing level rising to 2000 m.

Friday

Mostly cloudy, isolated flurries, southeast alpine wind 10 to 20 km/h, freezing level rising to 1400 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Make conservative terrain choices and avoid overhead hazard.
  • A moist or wet snow surface, pinwheeling and natural avalanches are all indicators of a weakening snowpack.
  • Be mindful that deep instabilities are still present and have produced recent large avalanches.

Problems

Wet Slabs

Wet Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) that is generally moist or wet when the flow of liquid water weakens the bond between the slab and the surface below (snow or ground). They often occur during prolonged warming events and/or rain-on-snow events. Wet Slabs can be very unpredictable and destructive.

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.