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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 28th, 2024–Mar 29th, 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, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Northwest Coastal, Boundary, Stewart, Ningunsaw, Ningunsaw, Ningunsaw.

Danger is expected to be highest during the warmest parts of the day.Human triggering remains a concern with buried persistent weak layers.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

There have been no new avalanches reported in the last couple days.

Early this week (Monday and Tuesday), a few loose wet avalanches were reported on steep sunny slopes, ranging from small to large (sizes 1 to 2). A few glide slab avalanches were observed in the Iskut area.

A week ago (Saturday), three very large (size 3) persistent slab avalanches were reported, occurring on southerly alpine slopes and likely triggered by warming.

Snowpack Summary

A thick widespread crust caps the snowpack in most areas. At lower elevations and on steep sunny slopes, the crust may soften with warming during the day or the snowpack may become isothermal.

Dry powder snow still exists on high north-facing alpine slopes and a weak layer of surface hoar is developing in sheltered terrain at treeline and above.

Various weak layers, including crusts, facets, and/or surface hoar exist approximately 40 to 80 cm deep. An additional crust and facet layer may be found 100 to 150+ cm below the surface. Lingering concern remains for human-triggering on these persistent weak layers.

Weather Summary

Thursday Night

Starry sky with patchy clouds. Northeast ridgetop wind, 15-25 km/h. Treeline temperature low -8 °C. Freezing level dropping to valley bottom.

Friday

Sunny. Northeast ridgetop wind, 5-15 km/h. Treeline temperature high -1 °C. Freezing level rising to 1100 m.

Saturday

Mostly cloudy. West ridgetop wind, 30-40km/h. Treeline temperature high -1 °C. Freezing level 1100 m.

Sunday

Cloudy with isolated flurries, trace to 5 cm. Southwest ridgetop wind gusting to 55 km/h. Treeline temperature high 0 °C. Freezing level rising to 1400 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Avoid thin areas like rock outcroppings where you're most likely to trigger avalanches failing on deep weak layers.
  • When a thick, melt-freeze surface crust is present, avalanche activity is unlikely.
  • As surface loses cohesion due to melting, loose wet avalanches become common in steeper terrain.
  • Avoid sun exposed slopes when the solar radiation is strong, especially if snow is moist or wet

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.