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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 21st, 2024–Mar 22nd, 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, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

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

While avalanche hazard is improving with cooling temperatures, human-triggered persistent slab avalanches remain a concern in areas not capped by a thick surface crust.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches were reported in the region on Wednesday.

On Sunday, a size 1.5, skier remote, persistent slab avalanche was reported on a northwest aspect at 2200 m. This is evidence that the persistent weak layer is still a concern for human triggering.

Through the prolonged warming event, avalanche activity in the region was observed up to size 4.5. Evidence of this natural avalanche cycle will still be visible to backcountry users who head into the mountains on Friday.

Snowpack Summary

A dusting of snow overlies a melt-freeze crust that varies in thickness but is present at all elevations. The exception is on direct north-facing terrain above 1900 m where the snow surface remained dry through the prolonged warming. Below the crust, the upper 30 cm of the snowpack remains moist.

60 to 170 cm down is a layer of facets overlying a crust. This layer has been the culprit in recent human-triggered avalanches. It remains a concern on northerly aspects above 1800 m, where the layer is still possible to human-trigger.

Below the crust, the snowpack is well settled.

Weather Summary

Thursday Night

Cloudy with 0 to 1 cm of snow. 10 km/h variable ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2°C. Freezing level 1400m.

Friday

Cloudy with 0 to 2 cm of snow. 10 km/h variable ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1°C. Freezing levels 1600m.

Saturday

Cloudy with 1 to 5 cm of snow. 15 to 30 km/h northeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3°C. Freezing levels 1500m.

Sunday

Mainly sunny. 40 to 50 km/h northeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2°C. Freezing levels 1600m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Keep in mind that human triggering potential persists as natural avalanching tapers off.
  • Avoid shallow, rocky areas where the snowpack transitions from thick to thin.
  • Be mindful that deep instabilities are still present and have produced recent large avalanches.

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.