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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Dec 18th, 2023–Dec 19th, 2023

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

Sea To Sky, South Coast Inland, Brandywine, Homathko, Spearhead, Birkenhead, Duffey, South Chilcotin, Stein, Taseko.

Continuously assess conditions as you move through terrain. Avalanche problems will change over elevation and time.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

A few small wet loose avalanches have been reported in the past couple days.

If you're heading out in the backcountry, please consider sharing any observations on the Mountain Information Network.

Snowpack Summary

New snow will likely form wind slab throughout the day in the alpine. At treeline and below precipitation is likely to fall as rain making the snow surface moist.

A 1-2 cm crust is buried around 10 to 30 cm deep. This crust extends into the alpine and is combined with a layer of surface hoar in sheltered areas.

At treeline and above two layers of concern are buried around 40 and 60 cm deep. Both consist of a crust that tapers at higher elevations, and surface hoar in sheltered areas. No recent activity has been reported on these layers but they continue to be reactive in testing.

Overall, the snow depth remains shallow, hiding early season hazards just below the snow surface.

 

Weather Summary

Monday Night

Cloudy with around 5 cm of new snow expected at treeline and above, southeast alpine wind 20 to 40 km/h, freezing level around 2000 m.

Tuesday

Cloudy with around 10 cm of new snow expected at treeline and above, southeast alpine wind 20 to 40 km/h, freezing level around 2200 m.

Wednesday

Mostly cloudy with trace amounts of mixed precipitation expected, south alpine wind 10 to 30 km/h, freezing level around 2000 m.

Thursday

A mix of sun and cloud with trace amounts of new snow expected, southwest alpine wind 25 to 50 km/h, freezing level around 1900 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Look for signs of instability: whumphing, hollow sounds, shooting cracks, and recent avalanches.
  • Carefully assess open slopes and convex rolls where buried surface hoar may be preserved.
  • Be carefull around freshly wind loaded features.
  • As surface loses cohesion due to melting, loose wet avalanches become common in steeper terrain.

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.

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.

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.