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

Dec 18th, 2024–Dec 19th, 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.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

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

Another wet and windy system is expected to bring rain to the highest elevations.

Confidence

Low

Avalanche Summary

A widespread avalanche cycle occurred overnight Tuesday into Wednesday with wet slabs reported on north aspects and loose wet avalanches on south aspects. With this good punch to the snowpack, Thursday's weather is not expected to produce such widespread avalanches, but a wet avalanche problem is still possible.

Snowpack Summary

Rain has saturated the snowpack to mountain top. More rain and warm temperatures are forecast through Thursday. Expect to find slushy and wet surfaces and an increasingly saturated snowpack.

Total snow depths at treeline vary from 240 cm near Mt. Washington, to 140 cm near Mt Cain.

Weather Summary

Wednesday night

Increasingly cloudy. 40 to 60 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 2 °C. Freezing level 1200 m.

Thursday

Wet flurries and rain, 20 to 50 mm. 50 to 90 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 4 °C. Freezing level rising above 2000 m.

Friday

Cloudy with rain showers, 10 to 20 mm. 50 to 80 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 6 °C. Freezing level rising to 2500 m.

Saturday

Cloudy with freezing rain. 50 to 80 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 6 °C. Freezing level rising to 2500 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Loose avalanches may start small, but they can grow and push you into dangerous terrain.
  • Watch for rapidly changing conditions during periods of heavy loading from new snow, wind, or rain.
  • Pay attention to isolated wind affected features in the alpine, as well as cross-loaded features at treeline.

Problems

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.