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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 25th, 2025–Mar 26th, 2025

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

Regions

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

Rising temperatures and strong sun are creating very dangerous avalanche conditions. Large, destructive natural avalanches are likely. Avoid all avalanche terrain.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

Widespread large natural avalanche activity was reported on Monday and Tuesday, including wet loose to size 2 and storm & persistent slabs to size 3. On Sunday, an extremely large avalanche, suspected size 4, was observed running to valley bottom and climbing up the other side.

We can expect large, destructive persistent slab avalanche activity to continue as temperatures continue to climb on Wednesday.

Snowpack Summary

A moist to wet upper snowpack snow sits over a crust. Below lies a complex snowpack with several weak layers which are currently concerns for triggering persistent slab avalanches:

  • Facets/surface hoar/crust from early March buried 40 to 60 cm deep,

  • Facets/surface hoar/crust from mid-February buried 110 to 130 cm deep, and

  • Facets/surface hoar/crust from late January buried 120 to 160 cm deep.

This complex snowpack combined with dramatic warming makes travel in avalanche terrain dangerous.

Weather Summary

Tuesday night

Clearing skies. 20 to 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature +6 °C. Freezing level rising to 2800 m.

Wednesday

Sunny. 10 to 20 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature +9 °C. Freezing level 3100 m.

Thursday

Cloudy with rain turning to snow, 5 to 10 cm. 20 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 0 °C. Freezing level falling to 2000 m.

Friday

Cloudy 5 to 15 cm of snow. 30 to 40 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1 °C. Freezing level 1000 to 2000 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Be aware of the potential for large, destructive avalanches due to deeply buried weak layers.
  • Very large and destructive avalanches could reach valley bottom.
  • Only the most simple non-avalanche terrain with no overhead hazard is appropriate at this time.

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.

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.

Cornices

Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.