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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 21st, 2024–Mar 22nd, 2024

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

Regions

Sea To Sky, Brandywine, Garibaldi, Homathko, Spearhead, Tantalus, Sky Pilot.

While avalanche hazard is improving with cooling temperatures, human-triggered persistent slab avalanches remain a concern in areas not capped by a thick surface crust.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches were reported in the region on Wednesday.

Through the prolonged warming event, avalanche activity in the region was observed up to size 4. Steep rocky terrain and direct solar slopes were the most impacted. Evidence of this natural avalanche cycle will still be visible to backcountry users who head into the mountains on Friday.

Snowpack Summary

A dusting of snow overlies a melt-freeze crust that covers the snow surface at all elevations. The exception is on north-facing terrain above 2000 m where the surface remained dry through the prolonged warming. Below the crust is 50 to 80 cm of moist snow.

100 to 250 cm down is a weak layer of facets overlying a crust. This layer was the culprit in many very large avalanches through the extended warm period. Uncertainty remains around how long this layer will persist with cooler temperatures.

Below the crust, the snowpack is well settled.

Weather Summary

Thursday

Cloudy. 10 km/h variable ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2°C. Freezing level 1500m.

Friday

Cloudy. 15 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1°C. Freezing level 1600m.

Saturday

Partly cloudy with 1 to 5 cm of snow. 10 to 25 km/h northeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2°C. Freezing level 1500m.

Sunday

Mainly sunny. 20 to 40 km/h northeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2°C. Freezing level 1500m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Keep in mind that human triggering potential persists as natural avalanching tapers off.
  • In areas where deep persistent slabs may exist, avoid shallow or variable depth snowpacks and unsupported terrain features.
  • A crust on the surface will help bind the snow together, but may make for tough travel conditions.

Problems

Persistent Slabs

Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.