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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 5th, 2025–Mar 6th, 2025

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

Regions

North Columbia, South Columbia, Clearwater, Jordan, North Monashee, North Selkirk, Badshot-Battle, Central Selkirk, Goat, Gold, Kokanee, Retallack, Valhalla, Whatshan.

Avoid north-facing alpine slopes, where triggering persistent weak layers is most likely.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

On Tuesday, numerous dry loose avalanches were reported. On some features, they gathered enough snow to become large.

Over the weekend, numerous natural and human-triggered avalanches, up to size 3.5, were reported at all elevations and aspects, many failing on the late January persistent weak layer.

On Sunday, a skier remotely triggered a size 2 persistent slab avalanche on a NW slope at 2300 m near Kaslo.

Snowpack Summary

10 to 15 cm of new snow sits on a 3 to 5 cm thick melt-freeze crust that is everywhere except north facing slopes above 2000 m.

A weak layer, composed of facets, surface hoar, or a crust, is found 20 to 60 cm deep. Another persistent weak layer, buried in late January, lies 50 to 110 cm deep. This layer is surface hoar, facets, or a crust, depending on the aspect.

The remaining snowpack is well-settled and strong.

Weather Summary

Wednesday Night

Mostly cloudy with 1 cm of snow. 10 to 20 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C.

Thursday

A mix of sun and cloud. 10 to 20 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.

Friday

A mix of sun and cloud. 10 to 25 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 1600 m.

Saturday

Cloudy with 10 to 20 cm of snow. 40 to 50 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 1600 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Be mindful that deep instabilities are still present in the snowpack.
  • Uncertainty is best managed through conservative terrain choices.
  • Back off slopes as the surface becomes moist or wet with rising temperatures.

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.