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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Dec 12th, 2023–Dec 13th, 2023

Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely.
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

Sasquatch, Sasquatch, Coquihalla, Harrison-Fraser, Manning, Skagit.

Be careful with sluffing in steep terrain, especially above cliffs and terrain traps.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

On Monday, a few size 1 glide slab avalanches were reported. These were triggered by prolonged warm temperatures.

Thank you to everyone who has been sharing observations on the Mountain Information Network. All the information and photos are very appreciated by forecasters!

Snowpack Summary

The snow surface is moist or in various stages of refreezing into a thick melt freeze crust at all elevations. Below the crust, 10 to 25 cm of storm snow sits overtop a series of crusts and rounded grains, the snowpack is generally well consolidated.

Overall, the snow depth remains relatively shallow, creating challenging travel conditions and numerous hazards at or just below the snow surface across all elevations.

Weather Summary

Tuesday Night

Mainly clear skies with no precipitation, southwest alpine winds 20 to 40 km/h, treeline temperature +1 °C, an above freezing layer remains between 1700 and 2500 m overnigh

Wednesday

Mainly sunny with no precipitation, southwest alpine winds 40 to 70 km/h, treeline temperature 0 °C, freezing level drops to 1500 m by afternoon.

Thursday

Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries 2 to 7 mm accumulation, southwest alpine winds 30 to 50 km/h, treeline temperature -3 °C, freezing level 1000 m.

Friday

Cloudy with isolated flurries 2 to 5 mm accumulation, southwest alpine winds 30 to 50 km/h, treeline temperature +1 °C, freezing level 2000 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • A crust on the surface will help bind the snow together, but may make for tough travel conditions.
  • Watch for unstable snow on specific terrain features, especially when the snow is moist or wet.
  • Early season avalanches at any elevation have the potential to be particularly dangerous due to obstacles that are exposed or just below the surface.

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.