Dashboard Regions Weather Stations Radar Alerts Glossary
Contact About
Log In

Register for an account and never miss a forecast again!

Register

Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 23rd, 2019–Mar 24th, 2019

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

Regions

South Coast.

Even if the skies are cloudy you should avoid slopes that have wet and mushy snow, especially at lower elevations with little overnight re-freeze. Check out this LINK to see how easy it is to trigger a loose wet avalanche.

Confidence

Moderate - Timing, track, or intensity of incoming weather system is uncertain on Tuesday

Weather Forecast

We're moving into a weather pattern more in keeping with seasonal norms. Monday night's storm should offer a nice refresh at upper elevations and temperatures should remain cool, at least through Wednesday morning.SATURDAY NIGHT: Light southeast wind, freezing level around 1500 m, no significant precipitation expected. SUNDAY: Broken cloud cover, light southeast wind, freezing level holding around 1500 m, no significant precipitation expected.MONDAY: Broken cloud cover, light southeast wind, freezing level holding around 1500 m, no significant precipitation expected during the day. The freezing level drops to about 800 m Monday night with 8 to 15 mm of precipitation expected. This will likely start as rain at lower elevations and should produce 10 to 15 cm of snow at and above treeline.TUESDAY: Scattered cloud cover, clearing through the day, moderate to strong west/southwest wind, freezing level around 800 m, 10 to 15 cm of snow possible.

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches were reported on Thursday or Friday. Natural activity will likely taper off with cooler temperatures Sunday.

Snowpack Summary

Snow surfaces are variable and the heat has likely eliminated any trace of cold snow except on high elevation north features. Melt-freeze conditions (more melt than freeze at lower elevations) exist on all other aspects and elevations. The current surface continues to produce snowballing, surface sluffing and loose wet avalanches.Deeper in the snowpack a layer of weak and sugary faceted grains sits on a melt-freeze crust about 50 to 120 cm deep. There have been no recent reports of avalanches nor activity of this layer in snowpack tests. The recent warm temperatures have probably helped this layer to heal significantly, the one place where it may still be a concern is high elevation north facing terrain.

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.