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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Dec 30th, 2023–Dec 31st, 2023

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

Regions

Blue River, Premier, Clemina, Esplanade, North Monashee, North Selkirk, Robson.

Check out this blog post for some insight into the current shallow yet complex snowpack.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

Have a look at our most recent blog post that highlights several large, scary avalanches occurring over the last couple of weeks.

No significant avalanches have been reported over the last few days.

Snowpack Summary

Variable wind-affected snow surfaces at treeline and above. Below treeline a crust exists at or near the surface.

The mid-pack remains complex with numerous layers. Of particular note are a hard crust from the early December rain event down roughly 50 cm and most importantly a layer of preserved surface hoar down roughly 50 to 90 cm.

At the bottom of the snowpack is a layer of facetted snow, particularly in shallower alpine terrain.

Currently, the snowpack is particularly complex, with considerable variation across different locations.

Weather Summary

Saturday night

Mostly cloudy with up to 5 cm of snow, southwest alpine winds 10 to 20 km/h, treeline temperature -2 °C, freezing levels dropping to 1000 m by the morning.

Sunday

Cloudy with up to 5 cm of snow (up to 10 cm in the Selkirks), southwest alpine winds 10 to 20 km/h, treeline temperature -4 °C.

Monday

Mostly cloudy with no precipitation, southwest alpine winds 10 to 20 km/h, treeline temperature -7 °C.

Tuesday

Mostly cloudy with no precipitation, southeast alpine winds 10 to 20 km/h, treeline temperature -7 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Avoid steep, rocky, and wind effected areas where triggering slabs is more likely.
  • Keep in mind that human triggering potential persists as natural avalanching tapers off.
  • Uncertainty is best managed through conservative terrain choices 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.

Deep Persistent Slabs

Deep Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a thick cohesive layer of hard snow (a slab), when the bond breaks between the slab and an underlying persistent weak layer deep in the snowpack. The most common persistent weak layers involved in deep, persistent slabs are depth hoar or facets surrounding a deeply buried crust. Deep Persistent Slabs are typically hard to trigger, are very destructive and dangerous due to the large mass of snow involved, and can persist for months once developed. They are often triggered from areas where the snow is shallow and weak, and are particularly difficult to forecast for and manage.