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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 3rd, 2024–Jan 4th, 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, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Vancouver Island, East Island, North Island, South Island, West Island.

Heightened avalanche conditions exist in the alpine where temperatures remain cool and winds have built cohesive slabs in lees. Human-triggered avalanches are possible in these areas.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

No avalanches have been reported recently.

Backcountry users should expect to see evidence of a natural wind slab avalanche cycle in the alpine that occurred during the last 24 hours. Users may also observe signs of a small wet loose avalanche cycle around 1300 m where the snow-rain line was during the storm.

Please help out your backcountry community by submitting a MIN report if you head out to the backcountry.

Snowpack Summary

By Thursday morning up to 30 cm of storm snow overlies a supportive melt-freeze crust. At treeline and below snow is moist. In the alpine where temperatures remained cool winds have redistributed storm snow into deep pockets.

The mid and lower snowpack contains a series of crusts and is well settled.

Treeline snow depths generally range from 50 to 150 cm. Snow depth diminishes rapidly below 1000 m. Traveling on skis is almost impossible below treeline.

Check out this great MIN that describes conditions at Mt Cain.

Weather Summary

Wednesday Night

Cloudy with flurries, 5 to 10 cm accumulations above the rain-snow line, southwest ridgetop wind 40 to 50 km/h, freezing level around 1300 m.

Thursday

Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries, 1 to 3 cm snow expected, southwest ridgetop wind 30 to 50 km/h, freezing level around 1300 m.

Friday

Cloudy with flurries, 10 to 20 cm of snow, southwest ridgetop wind 50 to 60 km/h, freezing level around 1000 m.

Saturday

A mix of sun and cloud with isolated flurries, trace amounts of snow, northwest ridgetop wind of 50 km/h, freezing level around 800 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind affected terrain.
  • Avalanche danger is often elevated in alpine gullies where snow has accumulated.
  • Travelling on skis is hazardous due to a very shallow mountain snowpack.

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.

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.