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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 17th, 2023–Mar 18th, 2023

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

Regions

Vancouver Island, East Island, North Island, South Island, West Island.

Watch for changing snow surface conditions throughout the day.

Wet avalanche activity is most likely on steep sun affected slopes, especially at lower elevations as temperatures rise over the day.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

No avalanches have been reported in the last few days.

We expect warm temperatures and sunny skies could create conditions for loose wet avalanches, particularly on steep, sun-exposed slopes.

Snowpack Summary

Around 20 to 30 cm of recent storm snow is settling and bonding to the snowpack. Deeper deposits may be found in north facing terrain features near ridges due to strong southwest winds. With a rising freezing level and sunny skies, expect the surface snow on sun-affected slopes and low elevations to be moist, which may freeze into a hard melt-freeze crust overnight. A dry snow surface should remain on shaded aspects at higher elevations.

The middle and lower snowpack are consolidated and strong, containing numerous thick and hard melt-freeze crusts.

Weather Summary

Friday Night

Mostly cloudy with moderate southerly winds. Freezing levels remain around 1200 m overnight.

Saturday

Mostly clear skies. Freezing levels reach 1500 m. Moderate southerly winds. Alpine high temperature -3 °C.

Sunday

Mostly cloudy with strong southeasterly winds. 5 cm of snow expected. Freezing levels drop to 1000 m over the day.

Monday

Cloudy with light to moderate southwesterly winds. Freezing levels around 800 m. Light snowfall continues.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Be alert to conditions that change with elevation and sun exposure.
  • Minimize exposure to sun-exposed slopes when the solar radiation is strong.
  • Pay attention to cornices and give them a wide berth when traveling on or below ridges.

Problems

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.