Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 5th, 2025–Mar 6th, 2025

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, human triggered possible.

Below Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

South Coast Inland, Birkenhead, Duffey, South Chilcotin, Stein, Taseko.

Keep an eye on the effects of warming and solar input throughout the day

Avalanche activity will likely increase when the snow surface feels moist

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

No slab avalanches were reported in the past 3 days.

Snowpack Summary

A widespread crust exists on or near the surface on most aspects and elevations. A crust may not exist on north aspects above 2100 m.

The snow surface will likely become moist during the day on all aspects and elevations except for high north facing slopes.

Around 40 cm of settled snow sits over a weak layer of facets, surface hoar and sun crust buried in mid February.

Another weak facet/crust/surface hoar layer, from late January, is buried 60 to 80 cm deep.

Weather Summary

Wednesday Night

Partly cloudy with trace amounts of snow. 10 to 20 km/h north ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C.

Thursday

Sunny. 10 to 20 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Freezing level rising to 1500 m.

Friday

Mix of sun and cloud. 20 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C.

Saturday

Cloudy with 5 to 15 cm of snow. 50 to 70 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

Avoid thin areas like rocky outcrops where you're most likely to trigger avalanches on deep weak layers.
Be careful as you transition into wind-affected terrain.
Be alert to conditions that change with elevation and sun exposure.
Back off slopes as the surface becomes moist or wet with rising temperatures.

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.

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.

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.