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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 27th, 2025–Mar 28th, 2025

Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.

Regions

North Columbia, South Columbia, Esplanade, Jordan, North Monashee, North Selkirk, West Purcell, Badshot-Battle, Central Selkirk, Goat, Gold.

The snowpack is recovering from extreme stress. Very conservative terrain choices are recommended.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

A significant avalanche cycle swept through the Columbia Mountains from Monday to Thursday, producing many full-path, size 3 and 4 avalanches. These included persistent slab, storm slab, wet slab, wet loose, and cornice failures.

While natural avalanche activity is expected to decrease on Friday, the snowpack remains unstable and untrustworthy after enduring extreme stress.

Snowpack Summary

Convective flurries may deposit 10 to 20 cm of dry snow at upper elevations, but accumulations will be highly variable. This snow will fall on a wet, rain-soaked upper snowpack. Expect a frozen crust to form across most terrain, except possibly on north alpine slopes.

Recent avalanche activity has involved multiple persistent weak layers. The most common failure layer is the early March surface hoar, facet, and crust layer, buried 70 to 150 cm deep. Many avalanches have also stepped down to deeper weak layers from February and January, buried 150 to 200 cm deep. These layers are still adjusting to recent stress and remain a serious concern for human-triggering and step-down avalanches.

Weather Summary

Thursday Night

Partly cloudy with 0 to 4 cm of snow above 1700 m, rain below. 20 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 1700 m.

Friday

Cloudy with 5 to 15 cm of snow. 20 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 1700 m.

Saturday

Mostly cloudy and 5 to 20 cm of snow. 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 1700 m.

Sunday

Mostly sunny. Calm. Treeline temperature -1 °C. Freezing level 1800 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Choose simple terrain.
  • It's a good day to make conservative terrain choices.
  • Carefully manage your exposure to overhead hazards.

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.

Storm Slabs

Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-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.