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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 19th, 2024–Feb 20th, 2024

Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Northwest Inland, Kispiox, Microwave-Sinclair, North Bulkley, South Bulkley, South Bulkley, South Bulkley, Telkwa.

Use representative, low-consequence features to investigate the reactivity of wind-transported snow. Dial back to lower angle terrain if you encounter signs of instability.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

On Saturday a skier accidentally triggered a large avalanche near Hudson Bay Mountain. It is suspected that this avalanche failed on the same persistent weak layer described in our snowpack summary. Check this MIN post for full details.

A few small natural avalanches were also reported in the Babines.

On Friday, a small ( size 1) skier-triggered size slab avalanche was reported in the Hudson Bay Mountain area. This avalanche failed on the same persistent weak layer.

Snowpack Summary

A variety of conditions can be found in exposed terrain at treeline and above, including crusty and wind affected surfaces. In sheltered terrain, there is up to 5 cm of snow on top of a breakable crust and new surface hoar development.

In isolated areas in the alpine, old, often hard wind slabs overlie a persistent layer of weak, sugary facets above a crust. This has kept some old slabs surprisingly sensitive to human triggering.

The remainder of the snowpack is generally not concerning.

Check out this MIN from our field team in the Babines.

Weather Summary

Monday night

Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries. 5 - 10 km/h northwest alpine wind. Freezing level to valley bottom.

Tuesday

Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries. 5 - 10 km/h north alpine wind. treeline temperature -3 °C with freezing level to 800 m.

Wednesday

A mix of sun and cloud. 10 - 15 km/h southeast alpine wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C with freezing level to 700m.

Thursday

Becoming mainly sunny. 20 - 40 km/h west alpine wind, increasing. Treeline temperature around -1 °C with freezing level rising to 1400 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Carefully evaluate bigger terrain features on an individual basis before committing to them.
  • Use caution when approaching steep and rocky terrian.

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.