Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Apr 26th, 2023–Apr 27th, 2023

Alpine

Below Threshold.

Treeline

Below Threshold.

Below Treeline

Below Threshold.

Alpine

Below Threshold.

Treeline

Below Threshold.

Below Treeline

Below Threshold.

Alpine

Below Threshold.

Treeline

Below Threshold.

Below Treeline

Below Threshold.

Regions

Chic-Choc Mountains, Littoral, Murdochville.

It's spring, plan your outings to get the best quality snow possible. The alpine slopes will be very firm in the morning and the south-facing slopes will be the first to produce pleasant downhill conditions. The northern slopes will require more time to soften. If you are tackling challenging objectives, be sure to pack crampons and ice axes.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanche has been observed or reported.

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Snowpack Summary

The cycle of nighttime freezing and daytime thawing will be weaker than the previous days, on Wednesday night. Nevertheless, firm conditions are likely to be found in the alpine on Thursday morning, especially on the north faces. Solar radiation will also be less important on Thursday than the last few days, but the mild temperatures will still allow the surface of the slopes to soften. At the base of the mountains, the warmth will continue to transform the snow and continue to melt the snowpack. More and more areas are now without snow cover, mainly at and below treeline where conditions are minimal.Snowpack heights range from 0 cm (valley) to 90 cm (mid-mountain).

Weather Summary

Forecast for the Chic-Chocs ridges and summits.

Synopsis: Passage of a weak trough bringing cloudy weather to the Gaspé Peninsula. Wednesday evening and night: Cloudy with sunny spells, light northwest winds, minimum 0 C, freezing level at 1000m. Thursday: Cloudy, light northwest winds, high +2 C, freezing level at 1600 m.Friday: Clear, light northwest winds, maximum +5 C, freezing level at 1800 m.Saturday: Alternating sun and clouds, light southeast winds, maximum +6 C, freezing level at 1700 m. For more details, see the Chic-Chocs alpine forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

Caution around slopes that are exposed to cornices overhead.
As surface loses cohesion due to melting, loose wet avalanches become common in steeper terrain.
The more the snow feels like a slurpy, the more likely loose wet avalanches will become.
Rocks will heat up with daytime warming and may become trigger points for loose wet avalanches

Problems

Cornices

Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.

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.