Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Mar 25th, 2021 4:00PM
The alpine rating is , the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is Known problems include Storm Slabs.
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Avalanche Canada
Watch for changing snow conditions when you gain elevation and transition into open wind affected terrain.
Summary
Confidence
High -
Weather Forecast
THURSDAY NIGHT: Partly cloudy, 30 km/h northwest wind, treeline temperatures drop to -10 C.
FRIDAY: Mostly cloudy, freezing level up to 1300 m and treeline temperatures around -6 C.
SATURDAY: Mostly cloudy with scattered flurries and up to 5 cm of new snow, 30 km/h southwest wind, freezing level up to 1600 m, treeline temperatures around -3 C.
SUNDAY: Flurries with 10-20 cm of snow, 40-60 km/h southwest wind, freezing level up to 1700 m, treeline temperatures around -3 C.
Avalanche Summary
Recent avalanche activity has primarily been small (size 1-1.5) avalanches in the top 15 cm of snow, many of them dry loose sluffs rather than slabs. A few larger slab 2 avalanches have been observed in steep slide paths in Glacier NP over the past few days.
On Monday and Tuesday there were a few human triggered slab avalanches in the Revelstoke area, including this snowmobile triggered avalanche on Boulder Mountain.
One notable size 3 slab avalanche was observed northeast of Revelstoke on Wednesday. The avalanche failed on the ground on a south aspect at 1600 m. While an isolated event, it is a good reminder to watch for slopes warming up in the springtime heat.
Snowpack Summary
At alpine and treeline elevations 10-20 cm of fresh snow brings totals over the last week to 40-60 cm. This sits above an interface that formed during the mid-March dry spell, which consists of a widespread crust (except on north-facing slopes above 1800 m). Overall the snow seems to be bonding well to this interface, although there have been some isolated human triggered avalanches running on the crust layer over the past few days.
Lower elevations have undergone daily melt-freeze cycles, with moist or crusty surfaces likely found up to at least 1500 m.
Terrain and Travel
- Use ridges or ribs to avoid areas of wind loaded snow.
- Be careful with open slopes and convex rolls, especially in more extreme terrain.
- 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
Storm Slabs
40-60 cm of recent snow has potential to form unstable slabs on some steep terrain features. The most likely spot to find reactive slabs is where there has been additional wind loading in lee terrain. There are also some surface hoar and crust layers in the top 60 cm of the snowpack, and while none of these layers are overly concerning, they may act as sliding layers in some isolated areas.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Mar 26th, 2021 4:00PM
