Avalanche forecast

Sea To Sky

Mar 24 – 25, 2012Avalanche Canada
View on map
Archived · expired 15 years ago

Avalanche danger

Mon
Tue
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
Open full map

Highlights

Be aware of strong solar radiation destabilizing the surface snow when the sun pokes out.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible - Likely
    Size
    1–4
    Wind slabs lurk below ridges, behind terrain features and in gullies. They may be buried by new snow, making them hard to spot.

  • Cornices

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–6
    Cornices are very large and may become more fragile with daytime warming

  • Loose Wet

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    1–4
    Loose wet avalanches are likely on steep sun-exposed slopes during the day. There is potential for these heavy wet slides to step down to deeper weaknesses and create a large slab avalanche.

Confidence

Fair - Timing or intensity of solar radiation is uncertain

Weather Forecast

Sunday: Expect a dry day, with clouds building late in the day. Winds remain light southerly with freezing levels reaching 1800m. Monday: Mixed skies should give way to mostly cloudy conditions and a chance of flurries later in the day and freezing levels reaching 1500m. Winds continue southerly and remain light. Tuesday: Continued light precipitation overnight as freezing levels climb to 1400m. Winds increase to strong southerlies by the afternoon.

Avalanche Summary

Recent avalanche activity includes loose moist sluffs to size 2.0 from daytime warming as well as one size 2.0 natural slab on a northeast aspect at 1700m.

Snowpack Summary

The warm temperatures have brought us into a spring melt freeze cycle with the surface snow softening with daytime warming on solar aspects then crusting overnight as temperatures dip back below freezing. Cornices loom in the alpine and old windslabs linger on lee aspects in the alpine and open treeline. The vast amount of recent storm snow continues to settle and bond while deeper in the snowpack the persistent weakness from mid February remains a concern due to continued sudden planar test results.

Regions covered