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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 27th, 2024–Feb 28th, 2024

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

Regions

Chic-Choc Mountains.

A major storm (of rain) is approaching the Gaspé Peninsula and is likely to hit the hardest on Wednesday night. There is some uncertainty as to how the snowpack will react to the heavy rain and rising temperatures.

Confidence

Low

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches reported or observed.

If you go into the backcountry, thanks for sharing your observations on the Mountain Information Network (MIN).

Snowpack Summary

In the alpine and in areas affected by the wind, you'll find a multitude of old, very hard wind slabs. These slabs are overlying older/denser snow or a weak layer of facet grains.

Between 5 and 20 cm of powdery snow can be found on sheltered slopes. The mid-snowpack is well consolidated, resting on the December 30 combo of facets and crust. Facets and depth hoar are developing at the base of the snowpack.

Weather Summary

Synopsis: A deep low-pressure system from the Great Lakes will sweep over the Gaspé Peninsula from Wednesday morning, bringing rising mercury, strong winds from the south and, unfortunately, heavy rain.

Tuesday evening and night: Cloudy. Winds from the southwest at 50 to 80 km/h. Temperatures rising to +3C. Freezing level at 2300m.

Wednesday: Cloudy. Rain beginning early morning. 15 mm rain expected. Wind south, 50-80 km/h. Maximum +5C. Freezing level rising to 2800m on Wednesday night.

Thursday: Clearing in the afternoon. 10 mm rain followed by 5 cm snow. Wind northwest 40 to 60 km/h. Cooling temperatures down to -20C.

Friday: Sunny. Wind northwest, 40 to 50 km/h. Maximum -20C.

For more details, check out the most recent alpine weather forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Avoid avalanche terrain during periods of heavy rain.
  • The more the snow feels like a slurpy, the more likely loose wet avalanches will become.
  • If triggered loose wet avalanches may step down to deeper layers resulting in larger avalanches.

Problems

Loose Wet

Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.

Wet Slabs

Wet Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) that is generally moist or wet when the flow of liquid water weakens the bond between the slab and the surface below (snow or ground). They often occur during prolonged warming events and/or rain-on-snow events. Wet Slabs can be very unpredictable and destructive.