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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 9th, 2024–Mar 10th, 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, 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

South Okanagan, Shuswap, North Okanagan.

Evaluate slopes as you travel, looking for signs of instability.

Continue to minimize exposure to large open slopes, uncertainty exists over the reactivity of buried weak layers.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches have been reported in the last 2 days.

Recent reports from this region have been limited to small slab avalanches, up to size 1.5. Neighboring regions have observed ongoing large avalanche activity on the buried weak layer of facets over a crust. Although not as large or likely in this region, triggering persistent slabs is still a concern as this layer is present.

Snowpack Summary

Surface conditions include sun crusts on south facing slopes, wind-affected snow, and small amounts of settling snow.

A widespread crust that formed in early February is now buried 40-90 cm deep, with a weak layer of facets above it. In neighboring regions, this layer has produced many large avalanches over the past week.

The snowpack below this crust is strong and well bonded.

Weather Summary

Saturday Night

Mostly cloudy. 30-50 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Freezing level remains around 1000 m overnight.

Sunday

Cloudy with up to 5 cm of snow. Southwest winds ease over the day from 50 km/h to 20 km/h by afternoon. Freezing levels peak around 1500 m, treeline temperature -2 °C.

Monday

Partly cloudy with isolated flurries. 20-30 km/h southerly ridgetop wind. Freezing levels around 1500 m, treeline temperature -2 °C.

Tuesday

A mix of sun and cloud. 20-40 km/h southerly ridgetop wind. Freezing levels around 1500 m, treeline temperature -2 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • This avalanche problem is difficult to trigger but if so, consequences are serious.
  • Choose slopes that are well supported and have limited consequence.
  • Avoid rock outcroppings, convexities, and anywhere the snowpack is thin and/or variable.

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.