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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 8th, 2025–Mar 9th, 2025

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

Regions

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

With continued warm weather, be aware of overhead hazard and give cornices a wide berth.

Persistent weak layers still lurk beneath the surface

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

Recently, some small, dry and wet loose avalanches have been reported in steep terrain.

Looking forward: Avalanches on buried weak layers may be difficult to trigger, but if one is triggered, it is likely to be large and destructive.

Snowpack Summary

The upper snowpack is currently quite variable.

On solar aspects, a new surface crust caps 5 to 15 cm of new snow that is settling over a widespread melt-freeze crust which exists everywhere but some high north-facing slopes. This lower crust has been reported to be generally supportive to skis, and anywhere from a couple cm to 20 cm thick. In some places, there is even a thin, breakable crust on shaded alpine slopes.

On north aspects, the surface snow is facetting and has up to 15 mm surface hoar on top of it.

Two concerning weak layers are present in the mid snowpack: facets/surface hoar or a crust from mid-February buried 30-70 cm, and facet/surface hoar/crust from late January buried 60-100 cm.

Weather Summary

Saturday Night

Mainly cloudy with a chance of flurries. 20 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Freezing level 1800 m.

Sunday

Mainly cloudy with mixed precipitation beginning late in the afternoon. 20 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature around 0 °C.

Monday

A mix of sun and cloud, with up to 15 mm of mixed precipitation overnight. 10 to 25 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature around 0 °C.

Tuesday

Mainly cloudy with up to 15 cm of new snow. 10 to 25 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1 °C.

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.
  • Use caution above cliffs and terrain traps where even small avalanches may have severe consequences.
  • In times of uncertainty, conservative terrain choices are our best defense.

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.