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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 25th, 2024–Mar 26th, 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

Cariboos, Blue River, Clearwater, McBride, Premier, Quesnel, Clemina, North Monashee, Renshaw, Robson.

Although the likelihood of triggering a persistent slab avalanche is decreased, the consequence of doing so would be catastrophic.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

Over the weekend we received a few reports of large persistent slab avalanches. They occurred in alpine terrain on all aspects. They likely released from daytime warming and from cornice falls.

It remains possible that similar avalanches could release going forward. A cooling trend with some precipitation may decrease the likelihood of release, but the consequence of being caught in such an avalanche would be catastrophic.

Snowpack Summary

A hard melt-freeze crust caps the snowpack on sun-exposed slopes and on all aspects at treeline and lower elevations. The crust may soften and melt during daytime warming, particularly on sun-exposed slopes. Shady high alpine slopes have 10 to 20 cm of soft snow that overlies hard snow.

Two layers of surface hoar on shaded slopes and a crust on sun-exposed slopes may be found in the top metre of the snowpack.

A widespread crust that formed in early February is buried about 70 to 130 cm deep. This crust has a weak layer of facets above it that are slowly strengthening.

The remainder of the snowpack is settled.

Weather Summary

Monday Night

Partly cloudy. 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C. Freezing level near valley bottom.

Tuesday

Mostly cloudy with 1 to 3 cm of snow. 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 1600 m.

Wednesday

Mostly cloudy with 1 to 3 cm of snow. 20 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 1600 m.

Thursday

Cloudy with 5 to 15 cm of snow. 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C. Freezing level 1300 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Avoid thin areas like rock outcroppings where you're most likely to trigger avalanches failing on deep weak layers.
  • When a thick, melt-freeze surface crust is present, avalanche activity is unlikely.
  • Pay attention to cornices and give them a wide berth when traveling on or below ridges.

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.