Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Jan 11th, 2024 4:00PM

The alpine rating is moderate, the treeline rating is moderate, and the below treeline rating is low. Known problems include Persistent Slabs and Wind Slabs.

Avalanche Canada mhalik, Avalanche Canada

Email

Use caution on steep, open slopes where buried weak layers may exist.Forecast temperatures are for extreme cold; check out this blog for tips on managing cold weather.

Summary

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

Wednesday The field team experienced shooting cracks ski cutting a wind-loaded southwest-facing alpine slope. They also saw several small wind slabs on similar slopes that were a few days old. More details HERE.

Tuesday The field team experienced whumpfing on a north-facing ridge near Hazelton.

Monday Near Kispiox, several size 1 to 1.5 persistent slabs were triggered by vehicles. These avalanches mainly occurred at treeline and failed on a weak layer of surface hoar.

Snowpack Summary

A new layer of surface hoar is growing on the surface. 15 to 20 cm of recent storm snow is sitting on a rain crust up to 1650 m. At upper elevations, recent north and easterly winds have built wind slabs on south and westerly faces in the alpine.

Two or more preserved surface hoar layers can be found buried between 35 and 70 cm deep. These layers are most prominent at treeline and below treeline elevations above 1200 m, but they've also been observed in some alpine locations.

Snowpack depths at treeline vary across the region with generally deeper amounts (150 to 120 cm) west of the highway, and shallower (50 to 90 cm) to the east.

Weather Summary

Thursday Night

Skies clear overnight with no new snow, variable alpine wind 5-15 km/h, treeline temperatures drop to -35 ºC.

Friday

Mainly sunny with no new snow, variable alpine wind 10 - 20 km/h, treeline temperature high of -26 ºC.

Saturday

A mix of sun and cloud, no new snow, southeasterly alpine wind 5-10 km/h, treeline temperature high of -28 ºC.

Saturday

A mix of sun and cloud, no new snow, variable alpine wind 5-10 km/h, treeline temperature high of -21 ºC.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Look for signs of instability: whumphing, hollow sounds, shooting cracks, and recent avalanches.
  • Recent wind has varied in direction so watch for wind slabs on all aspects.
  • Carefully assess open slopes and convex rolls where buried surface hoar may be preserved.

Problems

Persistent Slabs

An icon showing Persistent Slabs

Several buried surface hoar layers may be found 35 to 70 cm deep. These layers are a problem at elevations above 1200 m. They do not seem to be an issue in the alpine on south through west faces.

Aspects: All aspects.

Elevations: All elevations.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

1 - 2.5

Wind Slabs

An icon showing Wind Slabs

Recent north and easterly winds have built wind slabs in atypical places in the alpine.

Aspects: East, South East, South, South West, West, North West.

Elevations: Alpine.

Likelihood

Likely

Expected Size

1 - 1.5

Valid until: Jan 12th, 2024 4:00PM

Login