Avalanche forecast

Northwest Coastal

Mar 10 – 11, 2024Avalanche Canada
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Avalanche danger

Tue
Wed
Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
3 · Considerable
Below
3 · Considerable
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Highlights

Choose conservative, low-consequence terrain and avoid exposure to overhead hazard.

Recent large avalanches in the region indicate the snowpack remains very unstable.

Avalanche problems

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely - Very Likely
    Size
    2–3

    Persistent weak layers including crust/facet combos and buried surface hoar continue producing surprising avalanches.

  • Storm Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    1–2

    Ongoing snowfall and southerly wind have formed reactive storm slabs. The largest and most reactive are expected to be on northerly aspects.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

Frequent large and very large, accidental and remotely triggered avalanches continue to occur across the region. Some have been triggered from low-angle or flat terrain onto adjacent or overhead slopes.

We expect the potential for riders to trigger avalanches will remain elevated over the following days.

Snowpack Summary

30 to 70 cm of recent storm snow combined with southerly wind has formed reactive slabs across the region.

At lower elevations, the upper snowpack may be moist or crusty.

Several persistent weak layers are buried between 70 and 150 cm deep. These weak layers include hard crusts with overlying weak facets and surface hoar. Avalanches continue to fail on these layers.

Weather Summary

Sunday Night

Cloudy, with 3 to 7 cm of snow expected. 35 to 55 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperatures dropping to -6 °C.

Monday

Mostly cloudy, with 0 to 2 cm of snow expected. 50 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperatures around - 1 °C. Freezing level rising to 1100 m

Tuesday

Mostly cloudy, with 2 to 5 cm of snow expected. 40 to 50 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperatures around 0 °C. Freezing level rising to 1300 m

Wednesday

Cloudy, with 5 to 10 cm of new snow expected. 50 to 80 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperatures around 1 °C. Freezing level rising to 1600 m

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Remote triggering is a big concern, be aware of the potential for wide propagations and large, destructive avalanches at all elevations.
  • Storm slabs in motion may step down to deeper layers resulting in large avalanches.
  • Caution required around non obvious avalanche terrain like road cutbanks, cutblocks and other non obvious avalanche terrain
  • Be especially cautious as you transition into wind affected terrain.

Regions covered