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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 11th, 2024–Jan 12th, 2024

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

Regions

Northwest Inland, Howson, Kispiox, Microwave-Sinclair, North Bulkley, South Bulkley, South Bulkley, South Bulkley, Telkwa.

Use caution on steep, open slopes where buried weak layers may exist.Forecast temperatures are for extreme cold; check out this blog for tips on managing cold weather.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

Wednesday The field team experienced shooting cracks ski cutting a wind-loaded southwest-facing alpine slope. They also saw several small wind slabs on similar slopes that were a few days old. More details HERE.

Tuesday The field team experienced whumpfing on a north-facing ridge near Hazelton.

Monday Near Kispiox, several size 1 to 1.5 persistent slabs were triggered by vehicles. These avalanches mainly occurred at treeline and failed on a weak layer of surface hoar.

Snowpack Summary

A new layer of surface hoar is growing on the surface. 15 to 20 cm of recent storm snow is sitting on a rain crust up to 1650 m. At upper elevations, recent north and easterly winds have built wind slabs on south and westerly faces in the alpine.

Two or more preserved surface hoar layers can be found buried between 35 and 70 cm deep. These layers are most prominent at treeline and below treeline elevations above 1200 m, but they've also been observed in some alpine locations.

Snowpack depths at treeline vary across the region with generally deeper amounts (150 to 120 cm) west of the highway, and shallower (50 to 90 cm) to the east.

Weather Summary

Thursday Night

Skies clear overnight with no new snow, variable alpine wind 5-15 km/h, treeline temperatures drop to -35 ºC.

Friday

Mainly sunny with no new snow, variable alpine wind 10 - 20 km/h, treeline temperature high of -26 ºC.

Saturday

A mix of sun and cloud, no new snow, southeasterly alpine wind 5-10 km/h, treeline temperature high of -28 ºC.

Saturday

A mix of sun and cloud, no new snow, variable alpine wind 5-10 km/h, treeline temperature high of -21 ºC.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Look for signs of instability: whumphing, hollow sounds, shooting cracks, and recent avalanches.
  • Recent wind has varied in direction so watch for wind slabs on all aspects.
  • Carefully assess open slopes and convex rolls where buried surface hoar may be preserved.

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.

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.