Dashboard Regions Weather Stations Radar Alerts Glossary
Contact About
Log In

Register for an account and never miss a forecast again!

Register

Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 18th, 2017–Jan 19th, 2017

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

Regions

South Coast Inland.

Heavy loading from snow, wind and rain is driving avalanche danger up.

Confidence

Moderate - Timing, track, or intensity of incoming weather system is uncertain on Thursday

Weather Forecast

THURSDAY: Flurries with up to 5 cm of accumulation ending in the afternoon. Winds easing to moderate from the southwest. Freezing level around 1300m.FRIDAY: Scattered flurries with some sunny breaks, freezing levels around 1200m with moderate winds gusting strong from the southwest.SATURDAY:  Mainly cloudy with the possibility of isolated flurries, light south wind and freezing level remaining around 1200m, but cooler overnight temperatures.More details can be found on the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Avalanche Summary

Reports from Tuesday include widespread natural wet slab avalanches up to Size 3, and loose wet activity up to Size 2, in the southern part of the region. Meanwhile in the northern parts initial reports include widespread storm slab avalanches up to Size 2.5.

Snowpack Summary

SOUTHERN AREAS (e.g. Coquihalla): Heavy rain up to treeline elevations is likely soaking a previous surface crust that extended up to 1650m or multiple wind slab layers on southerly aspects from the arctic outbreak events in December & January. These lingering wind slabs will likely remain reactive with the incoming precipitation (whether it falls as rain or snow) so use extra caution in your terrain choice. NORTHERN AREAS (e.g. Duffey Lake): By Wednesday morning abother 35 cm of fresh snow added to the previous 35-50 cm, which was all redistributed by moderate to strong southerly winds. This has resulted in touchy storm and wind slabs bonding poorly to the previous snow surface that includes facets and large surface hoar on sheltered slopes and/or a sun crust on steep sun-exposed aspects, as well as wind-affected surfaces (e.g. hard wind slab, sastrugi, scoured crust, etc.) in exposed areas.

Problems

Storm Slabs

Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-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.