Avalanche Forecast

High

Looking forward, storm slabs are expected to be reactive to human-triggering, especially where southwesterly winds have created deeper deposits on north- and east-facing slopes.

On Monday a size 1.5 wind slab was observed in the White Pass. On Sunday, size 2 avalanches were reported in the Three Guardsman area of Haines Summit.

Up to 20 cm of new snow is expected to fall by the end of the day on Thursday. Strong southwesterly winds are expected to create deeper and reactive deposits on lee slopes. This snow falls on a variety of different surfaces, including a melt-freeze crust on solar slopes and hard wind-affected surfaces or faceted snow and surface hoar on shady slopes.

A weak layer of facets and a crust from early December is buried 60 to 150 cm deep on all aspects up to 1750 m. This layer has not produced recent avalanche activity or test results and is not currently a concern.

Snow depth varies from 100 cm at highway elevations to over 200 cm in the alpine.

Wednesday Night

Cloudy with 5 to 10 cm of snow. 60 to 80 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C.

Thursday

Cloudy with 5 to 10 cm of snow. 40 to 60 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C.

Friday

Mostly cloudy with 3 to 5 of snow. 30 km/h southerly wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.

Saturday

Cloudy with 5 to 10 cm of snow. 30 km/h south ridgetop winds. Treeline temperature -5 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Watch for fresh storm slabs building throughout the day.
• Seek out sheltered terrain where new snow hasn't been affected by wind.
• Watch for signs of instability like whumpfing, hollow sounds, shooting cracks, or recent avalanches.
• Avoid freshly wind-loaded features, especially near ridge crests, rollovers, and in steep terrain.