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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 21st, 2025–Jan 22nd, 2025

Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
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

Kitimat, Nass, Rupert, Seven Sisters, Shames, Howson, Microwave-Sinclair.

Anticipate wind and storm slab reactivity and size to increase throughout the day on Wednesday.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanche activity has been reported since the weekend.

A widespread avalanche cycle occurred late last week during stormy weather, with avalanches up to size 3 reported, failing on the weak layer buried in early December.

A few rider-triggered, smaller wind slab avalanches were reported over the weekend.

Snowpack Summary

New snow is accumulating over a variety of surface hoar and faceted snow in sheltered terrain and old wind-affected surfaces in exposed terrain.

A widespread crust can be found in the upper snowpack from rain and warm temperatures earlier in January. Reports suggest this layer is bonding well.

A crust along with surface hoar and/or facets persists down roughly 100 to 200 cm from the surface. This layer produced large avalanches during last week's storm.

Weather Summary

Tuesday Night

Cloudy with up to 5 cm of snow. 30 to 50 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.

Wednesday

Cloudy with 10 to 20 cm of snow. 40 to 60 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C.

Thursday

Mostly cloudy with 0 to 2 cm of snow. 30 to 50 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.

Friday

Mostly cloudy. 20 to 40 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Pay attention to the wind; once it starts to blow, sensitive wind slabs are likely to form.
  • If triggered, wind slabs avalanches may step down to deeper layers resulting in larger avalanches.
  • This avalanche problem is difficult to trigger, but would have serious consequences.

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.

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.