Dashboard Regions Weather Stations Radar Alerts Glossary
Contact About
Log In

Register for an account and never miss a forecast again!

Register

Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 24th, 2024–Feb 25th, 2024

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

Regions

Kootenay Boundary, Bonnington, Grohman, Kootenay Pass, Norns, Rossland, Ymir, Crawford, Moyie, St. Mary, Kokanee, Valhalla.

Avalanche danger is expected to increase throughout the day with forecast snowfall and strong wind.If you see more than 25 cm of fresh snow expect danger to be HIGH in the alpine

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

Several explosive and skier-triggered avalanches (size 1 to 2) have been reported across the region since Wednesday. These avalanches generally occured in the alpine and treeline. They failed within recent storm snow, on buried surface hoar, or a crust/facet combination described in the snowpack summary.

With significant new snow and wind in the forecast, the likelihood of both natural and human-triggered avalanches will increase throughout the stormy period.

Snowpack Summary

10 - 30 cm of new snow is expected to fall by the end of the day Sunday. This snow will overlie 10 - 20 cm of recent heavy, dense snow that covers a variety of old wind-affected or crusty surfaces.

In sheltered areas in parts of the region, surface hoar may be found buried 20 to 50 cm.

A widespread crust exists down roughly 40 to 70 cm. In many areas, small, weak faceted grains have formed just above or below this crust.

The mid and lower snowpack is generally well settled.

Weather Summary

Saturday Night

Cloudy with 2 to 10 cm of new snow, 45 km/h southwest ridgetop wind, treeline temperature -1 °C, freezing level 1500 m.

Sunday

Cloudy with 5 to 20 cm of snow, 50 km/h southwest ridgetop wind, treeline temperature -1 °C, freezing level 1600 m.

Monday

Partly cloudy with 0 to 2 cm of snow, 20 km/h westerly ridgetop wind, treeline temperature -7 °C.

Tuesday

Partly cloudy with 2 to 7 cm of snow, 15 to 30 km/h variable ridgetop wind, treeline temperature -10 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Storm slab size and sensitivity to triggering will likely increase through the day.
  • Storm slabs in motion may step down to deeper layers resulting in large avalanches.
  • As the storm slab problem gets trickier, the easy solution is to choose more conservative terrain.

Problems

Storm Slabs

Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.

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.