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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 24th, 2013–Mar 25th, 2013

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

Regions

South Coast.

Confidence

Good

Weather Forecast

Synopsis: A ridge of high pressure over the interior of BC will maintain generally dry conditions over the next few days. A series of weak low pressure systems will brush the coast resulting in cloudy periods and possible precipitation, primarily closer to the coast. Accumulations will be very light. Sunny breaks are also likely. Temperatures are expected to gradually warm over the next few days. Daytime freezing levels could jump up to 1800 m by Wednesday. Winds are generally light and variable throughout the period.

Avalanche Summary

Several rider triggered wind slabs, up to size 1.5, were reported throughout the region on steep lee features on Friday and Saturday. There were also a couple large cornice failures, some of which pulled out slabs on the slope below. Loose wet avalanches up to size 1.5 were observed on steep sun-exposed slopes on Saturday.

Snowpack Summary

The snowpack is variable across the region. Recent storm snow has been redistributed by mainly SW winds into wind slabs over various crust layers in the upper snowpack. In some areas, a melt-freeze crust down about 35 cm has a questionable bond with the snow above. Surface hoar, buried down about 50-70 cm, gave hard, sudden (pops) results in recent snowpack tests. Triggering this layer has become less likely, but still remains possible with a heavy load or from a thin-spot trigger point. Cornices are large and unstable in some areas. Warm temperatures may weaken them further.

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.

Cornices

Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.

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.