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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Dec 21st, 2022–Dec 22nd, 2022

Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.

Regions

South Coast Inland, Birkenhead, Duffey, South Chilcotin, Stein, Taseko.

The snowpack is generally weak, facetted, and lacks cohesion. Assess for surface instabilities that have the potential to step down to deeper weak layers.

Check out the most recent Forecasters' Blog, discussing how to manage extreme cold conditions.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanche activity has been reported over the last few days.

If you head out into the mountains, please share your photos or observations on the Mountain Information Network. Your information helps us understand local conditions!

Snowpack Summary

Generally, the snowpack is unusually shallow and has a layer deep in the snowpack made up of weak facets and depth hoar. At lower elevations and shallower areas, the snowpack remains mostly unconsolidated.

The height of snow is roughly 50 to 200 cm at treeline.

Weather Summary

Cold arctic air continues to blanket Southwest BC until Thursday night when a warm and wet storm begins to move inland.

Wednesday night

Clear. Temperatures around -25 C and light northeast winds in the alpine.

Thursday

Sunny with building clouds, and no precipitation. Temperatures -15 to -25 C and light easterly winds.

Friday

Cloudy with snow, up to 10 cm. Temperatures of -5 to -15 C, and moderate southwest winds.

Saturday

Cloudy with snow. Up to 20 cm. Temperatures around -5 C and strong south winds in the alpine.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • If triggered, loose dry avalanches may step down to deeper layers resulting in large avalanches.
  • Use careful route-finding and stick to moderate slope angles with low consequences.

Problems

Deep Persistent Slabs

Deep Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a thick cohesive layer of hard snow (a slab), when the bond breaks between the slab and an underlying persistent weak layer deep in the snowpack. The most common persistent weak layers involved in deep, persistent slabs are depth hoar or facets surrounding a deeply buried crust. Deep Persistent Slabs are typically hard to trigger, are very destructive and dangerous due to the large mass of snow involved, and can persist for months once developed. They are often triggered from areas where the snow is shallow and weak, and are particularly difficult to forecast for and manage.