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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 19th, 2024–Mar 20th, 2024

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, 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

South Coast Inland, Birkenhead, Duffey, South Chilcotin, Stein, Taseko.

Conditions may have improved, but be mindful that deep instabilities are still present and remain possible to human trigger.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

On Monday, evidence of previous widespread natural avalanche cycle from the prolonged heat continued to be reported. It is suspected most of these avalanches are 24 to 72 hours old. Through the weekend loose wet, wet slab and persistent slab avalanche activity was observed on every aspect up to size 3. Steep rocky terrain and direct solar slopes were the most impacted.

On Sunday, a size 1.5, skier remote, persistent slab avalanche was reported on a northwest aspect at 2200 m.

Snowpack Summary

As temperatures slowly cool expect to find a melt-freeze crust that covers the snow surface at all elevations. Daytime heating may soften the crust in some places making surfaces moist. The exception is on direct north-facing terrain above 1900 m where the surface remained dry through the week.

The top 30 cm of the snowpack is moist snow. 60 to 170 cm down is a layer of facets overlying a crust. This layer has been the culprit for many recent large avalanches through the extended warm period. It remains a concern on northerly aspects above 1800 m, where the layer may still be reactive to human triggering.

Below the crust, the snowpack is well settled.

Weather Summary

Tuesday Night

Partly cloudy. 20 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature +1 °C with freezing levels falling from 2200 to 1800m by morning.

Wednesday

Partly cloudy. 10 to 25 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 0 °C. Freezing levels 1800m.

Thursday

Cloudy with 1 to 5 cm of snow. 10 to 25 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1 °C. Freezing levels rise from 1000 to 1600m in the afternoon.

Friday

Cloudy with 1 to 2 cm of snow. 10 to 20 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C. Freezing levels rise from 500 to 1300m in the afternoon.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Keep in mind that human triggering potential persists as natural avalanching tapers off.
  • Avoid shallow, rocky areas where the snowpack transitions from thick to thin.
  • Rocks will heat up with daytime warming and may become trigger points for loose wet avalanches

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.

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.