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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 22nd, 2019–Mar 23rd, 2019

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

South Coast Inland.

Even if the skies are cloudy you should avoid slopes that have wet and mushy snow, especially at lower elevations with little overnight re-freeze. Check out this LINK to see how easy it is to trigger a loose wet avalanche.

Confidence

Moderate -

Weather Forecast

A change in the weather pattern is approaching. FRIDAY NIGHT: Cloudy with isolated flurries at higher elevations. Ridgetop winds moderate from the southwest and freezing levels 1000 m. SATURDAY: Cloudy with isolated sunny periods. Freezing levels 1500 m and alpine near temperatures near -2. Ridgetop wind light from the northwest.SUNDAY: Periods of snow, 5 cm expected in the North and up to 15 cm expected in the South. Freezing levels 1300 m and alpine temperatures near -3. Ridgetop winds remain light from the northwest.MONDAY: Cloudy with snow amounts 5-10 cm. Freezing levels 1600 m and alpine temperatures near -1.

Avalanche Summary

On Thursday, no new avalanches were reported from the region.On Wednesday, natural loose wet avalanche activity continued up to size 3 on SE-SW aspects in the northern parts of the region. In the South, a few natural loose wet avalanches were reported up to size 2 from steep solar aspects. We suspect that natural avalanche activity will slowly decrease as temperatures drop over the weekend.

Snowpack Summary

Snow surfaces are variable. On higher North aspects (above 1700 m) you may find some dry, faceted snow. Some of this has been redistributed by southwesterly and northerly winds, potentially creating some isolated wind slabs. On solar aspects (East, South, West) at treeline and in the alpine the upper 10-30 cm will likely sport a firm crust with cooling temperatures. Below treeline the snow could remain moist or wet if it doesn't re-freeze. Below the melt-freeze crust on solar aspects and the wintery snow on the polar aspects down 40-60 cm sits the February facet interface. This interface may be reactive on higher North aspects where a firm surface crust doesn't exist. The snowpack has gone through a lot of change with the hot and sunny weather. The mushy snowpack will start to solidify and lock-up allowing for hard conditions and less avalanche activity, especially on the solar slopes.

Problems

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.