Dashboard Regions Weather Stations Radar Alerts Glossary
Contact About
Log In

Register for an account and never miss a forecast again!

Register

Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Dec 1st, 2022–Dec 2nd, 2022

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

Regions

South Coast, North Shore, Sasquatch, Sasquatch, Sky Pilot, Tetrahedron, Skagit.

Deeper pockets of wind-transported snow can be found at higher elevations as storm snow continues to settle. Seek areas where the terrain is broken up into smaller features.

A thin snowpack has yet to cover early-season hazards.

Confidence

Low

Avalanche Summary

Many small loose dry avalanches have been reported throughout the area. There have been few people reporting any observations so if you head out to the backcountry, please consider posting in the MIN and help strengthen our information gathering.

Snowpack Summary

During Tuesday's storm, approximately 40 cm of light snow fell Tuesday evening. Although it has been relatively calm since the storm, the storm brought with it winds and has left alpine and treeline areas with pockets of heavily deposited snow. At higher elevations, the new snow and new wind slabs cover previous wind-affected snow. In more sheltered areas it buried a 2 to 5 mm surface hoar layer which is now buried. Further down in the snowpack there are reports of a melt-freeze crust. These layers

At around 1000 m the snowpack is reach depths between 70 cm. Lower treeline and below treeline elevation are still below the threshold for avalanches.

Weather Summary

Thursday Night

Mostly clear, no accumulation, winds southwest light to 20 km/h, temperature -5 C at 500 m.

Friday

Cloudy with sunny cloudy periods, 5 to 10 cm accumulation in the evening, winds southeast 15 km/h, 0 C at sea level.

Saturday

Cloudy, 3 to 7 cm accumulation early morning, winds southeast 15 to 25 km/h, temperatures 0 to -5 to 0 C at sea level.

Sunday

Mostly sunny, no accumulation, winds east 10 to 30 km/h, 0 C at 1500 m and 0 C at sea level due to temperature inversion.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Seek out sheltered terrain where new snow hasn't been wind-affected.
  • Wind slabs are most reactive during their formation.

Problems

Wind Slabs

Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.