Dashboard Regions Weather Stations Radar Alerts Glossary
Contact About
Log In

Register for an account and never miss a forecast again!

Register

Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 27th, 2022–Feb 28th, 2022

Alpine
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Below Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Alpine
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Below Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Alpine
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Below Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.

Regions

South Coast.

Heavy and steady precipitation with strong winds will continue to develop significant storm slabs, especially in lee areas in the alpine and at treeline. It is a good day to stay away from avalanche terrain.

Confidence

Moderate - Uncertainty is due to the limited number of field observations. We are confident the likelihood of avalanche will increase with the arrival of the forecast weather.

Weather Forecast

A series of weather systems are set to hit BC in the next few days bringing precipitations, mild air and strong mountaintop winds.

SUNDAY NIGHT: Snow and rain mixed, heavy at time, 35-45 mm, 30-50 km/h southerly wind, treeline low temperature +1 C, freezing level at 1100 m.

MONDAY: Rain, heavy at times, 50-65 mm, 40-60 km/h southerly wind, treeline high temperature +4 C, freezing level at 1800 m.

TUESDAY: Rain, heavy at times, 35-45 mm, 40-60 km/h soutwesterly wind, treeline high temperature +2 C, freezing level at 1300 m.

WEDNESDAY: Wet snow mixed with rain, heavay at times, 35-45 mm, 30-50 km/h southwesterly wind, treeline high temperature +1 C, freezing level at 1200 m.

Avalanche Summary

A skier accidental size 1.5 on a windslab over a small convexity was reported on Saturday. A few small storm slabs remotely triggered by skiers were reported on Sunday.

Snowpack Summary

About 25-30 cm of storm snow is covering a variety of surfaces including the widespread mid-February crust, wind affected snow and pockets of wind slab in exposed high elevation terrain, a suncrust on solar aspects, low density facetted snow on northerly slopes and spotty surface hoar in very sheltered lower elevations. It is unknow how this new snow will bond to the previous surfaces but we are expecting it will not bond very well.

The mid-February crust is down around 25-50 cm and exists on all aspects and elevations. Observations are suggesting that it is bonding well to surrounding snow but large loads such as heavy snowfalls or rain and cornice falls could wake up this layer and produce very large avalanches.

The late-January melt-freeze crust is now down around 80 cm and seems to be well bonded to the surrounding snow. The middle and lower snowpack are considered well settled and strong.

Terrain and Travel

  • Storm slab size and sensitivity to triggering will likely increase through the day.
  • Storm slabs in motion may step down to deeper layers resulting in large avalanches.
  • Avoid all avalanche terrain during periods of heavy loading from new snow, wind, or rain.

Problems

Storm Slabs

Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-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.