Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Tutshi, Wheaton, White Pass East, White Pass West, Yukon.
Give the recent snow time to settle and stabilize.
Conditions may change drastically with elevation. Precipitation continues while temperatures drop back to more seasonal values.
Confidence
Low
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches were reported before 4 pm on Monday.
Saturday: A naturally triggered avalanche cycle consisting of both slab and loose wet avalanches to size 2.5 was observed along the highway corridor between White Pass and Skagway. These avalanches all occurred on northerly aspects.
We suspect a widespread natural avalanche cycle is ongoing across the region.
Snowpack Summary
Storm snow totals around 35-50 cm by the end of the day Tuesday. With only road elevation weather stations and a lack of liquid precipitation measurements available, this is a loose estimate.
Freezing levels were up to 1700 m over the weekend and should drop rapidly on Tuesday, resulting in a frozen crust or wet snow at the surface, or under fresh, dry snow.
Strong southerly alpine winds have likely formed touchy slabs at upper elevations on lee northerly and easterly slopes.
A buried weak layer of surface hoar and facets has been found in isolated locations 45-70 cm below the surface. There is potential for the recent precipitation and warm temperatures to overload this layer triggering large avalanches.
Weather Summary
Monday Night
Cloudy. 10-15 cm of snow expected above 1000 m. Extreme southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature around 2 °C.
Tuesday
Cloudy. 5-10 cm of snow expected. Strong southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature dropping rapidly from 0°C to -10°C.
Wednesday
Partly cloudy. No new snow expected. Moderate to strong northeast alpine wind. Treeline temperature around -15°C.
Thursday
Mostly cloudy. 0-2 cm of snow expected. Light variable wind. Treeline temperature around -17 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
Terrain and Travel Advice
- Avoid all avalanche terrain during periods of heavy loading from new snow, wind, or rain.
- Continue to make conservative terrain choices while the storm snow settles and stabilizes.
- Make observations and assess conditions continually as you travel.
Avalanche Problems
Storm Slabs
Storm slabs have built up throughout the storm. As the precipitation tapers off and temperatures cool, natural avalanches are less likely, but human-triggered avalanches are still likely at high elevations that didn't see rain.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Likely
Expected Size: 1 - 2.5