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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 6th, 2024–Feb 7th, 2024

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

Regions

North Columbia, South Columbia, Grohman, Esplanade, Jordan, North Monashee, North Selkirk, Shuswap, Badshot-Battle, Central Selkirk, Goat, Gold, North Okanagan, Valhalla, Whatshan.

Use caution in wind-affected areas at higher elevations where new snow and wind have formed cohesive slabs that could be reactive to human triggering.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

On Monday, a size 1.5, skier-triggered wind slab avalanche was reported The avalanche occurred in a wind-loaded pocket at 2300m.

A MIN (see here) in a neighboring region a group bootpacking a couloir triggered size 3 avalanche on a south-facing slope at 2600 m. This large avalanche is evidence that where the crust doesn't exist or is thin, the persistent problem remains possible to human trigger and a concern.

Snowpack Summary

Roughly 10 to 30 cm of dry snow sits atop a widespread, hard crust. In general, the crust is strong and thick enough to be supportive to travel on.

In the mid and lower snowpack, various weak layers persist in areas, however, triggering any of these layers is unlikely given the supportive crust above.

Weather Summary

Tuesday Night

Cloudy with 0 to 5 cm of snow throughout the region, up to 10 cm local to Revelstoke, 10 to 25 km/h southwest ridgetop winds, treeline temperature -5 °C.

Wednesday

Mostly cloudy with 0 to 5 cm of snow, 10 to 20 km/h southerly ridgetop winds, treeline temperature -5 °C.

Thursday

Partly cloudy with 1 to 2 cm of snow, 10 to 20 km/h northwest ridgetop winds, treeline temperature -7 °C.

Friday

A mix of sun and cloud with, 1 to 2 cm of snow, 10 to 30 km/h nort ridgetop winds, treeline temperature -9 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Be carefull around freshly wind loaded features.
  • Be aware of the potential for loose avalanches in steep terrain where snow hasn't formed a slab.
  • When a thick, melt-freeze surface crust is present, avalanche activity is unlikely.

Problems

Wind Slabs

Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind 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.