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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 18th, 2025–Feb 19th, 2025

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

Regions

Sea To Sky, Brandywine, Garibaldi, Homathko, Spearhead, Tantalus.

Avalanche danger will build through the day with increased snowfall. Storm snow avalanches may step down to deeper instabilities in the snowpack.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

Over the weekend, explosives triggered several small storm and wind slab avalanches. There were reports of some of these stepping down to the January drought layer on north aspects.

Several dry loose avalanches in steep terrain were also reported.

Snowpack Summary

New snow lands on up to 10 cm of wind affected snow that fell over the weekend. In sheltered terrain this new snow may overlie soft, faceted snow or surface hoar. In exposed terrain it will overlie a sun crust or wind-affected snow.

A weak layer that was buried at the end of January is down 30 to 80 cm in the snowpack. Depending on where you are, it'll be a combination of different crystals. With crusts on sunny slopes, sugary facets in most places, and surface hoar in sheltered spots.

The mid and lower snowpack is strong and bonded.

Weather Summary

Tuesday Night

Mostly cloudy with up to 5 mm of mixed precipitation. 20 to 40 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Freezing level 1300 m.

Wednesday

Cloudy with up to 10 to 30 mm of mixed precipitation. 25 to 50 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Freezing level 1500 m.

Thursday

Mostly cloudy with 1 to 3 mm of mixed precipitation. 20 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Freezing level 1300 m.

Friday

Cloudy with up to 10 to 20 mm of mixed precipitation. 20 to 50 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Freezing level 1600 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Approach lee and cross-loaded slopes with caution.
  • Storm slab size and sensitivity to triggering will likely increase through the day.
  • Storm slabs in motion may step down to deeply buried weak layers and result in very large avalanches.

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.

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.