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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 13th, 2025–Mar 14th, 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

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

The new storm snow is not bonding well to old surfaces, and human-triggered avalanches are likely.

Winter isn't over yet. Check out the new forecaster blog here.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

On, Wednesday, reports indicated that the recent storm snow was reactive to human triggers initiating storm slabs to size 1. Dry loose sluffing occurred in steep terrain features.

Reactive storm slabs are likely on Friday, especially in at upper elevations that see more wind effect. Natural avalanche activity can spike on solar slopes when the sun is out.

Snowpack Summary

Another 20 cm of snow fell by Thursday. The strong southwest wind continued to redistribute some of the fresh snow onto lee slopes at the ridgeline. This brings up to 80 cm of snow since last weekend. The recent snow sits above a crust on all aspects except high north-facing terrain, where it sits on a facet interface that formed in early March.

A layer of facets and surface hoar from mid-February can be found down around 90 to 120 cm.

Another layer of facets and surface hoar from late January can be found down 120 to 150 cm.

Weather Summary

Thursday Night

Cloudy with some clear periods and flurries up to 5 cm. 10 to 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -9 °C. Freezing level valley bottom.

Friday

Cloudy with sunny periods and isolated flurries. 10 to 20 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -8 °C. Freezing level valley bottom.

Saturday

Cloudy with 5 to 15 cm of snow. 15 to 50 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C. Freezing level 1200 m.

Sunday

Cloudy with snow 5 to 10 cm. 15 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C. Freezing level 1300 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Avoid freshly wind-loaded terrain features.
  • Keep your guard up as storm slabs may remain sensitive to human triggering.
  • Even brief periods of direct sun could produce natural avalanches.
  • Storm slabs in motion may step down to deeper layers resulting in 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.