Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
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.
Regions
Glacier.
Avalanche activity will increase over the day as an intense warm and moist storm arrives midday. Little to no overnight refreeze will allow the warm temps and rain to rapidly destabilize the snowpack tree line and below.
Weather Forecast
Cloudy today with snow and rain arriving midday as an intense, warm and moist pacific low pushes inland. The alpine will reach above zero temperatures as the freezing level rises to 2500m. Winds during the frontal passage of the storm will be 30km/hr from the south gusting to 50km/hr. Wednesday will see clearing skies, a drop in temp and wind.
Snowpack Summary
The top 20cm of snow was moist up to 2100m yesterday and up to 3000m the day before on all aspects. Minimal overnight recovery below tree line as freezing levels remained around 0 degrees. Well-settled mid and lower snowpack with the Mar 15 crust complex down 70-90cm on solar aspects.
Avalanche Summary
Numerous sz 2-3 avalanches yesterday and over 40 sz 2-3 avalanches on Sunday occurring in the moist storm snow.Avalanche activity is expected to increase again today as a warm and moist weather system will arrive early this afternoon.Artillery avalanche control is planned for this afternoon. Check DriveBC for the latest updates.
Confidence
Timing, track, or intensity of incoming weather system is uncertain on Tuesday
Problems
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.
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.