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

Feb 26th, 2023–Feb 27th, 2023

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

Regions

Yukon, Tutshi, Wheaton, White Pass East, White Pass West.

Reactive wind slabs may be present on most aspects.

The persistent slab problem remains a concern primarily on northeasterly aspects.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanche observation since last weekend but this could be due to few to no reports coming from the backcountry.

Thank you to all who contribute to the Mountain Information Network. If you head to the backcountry please help out your community by sharing your experiences.

Snowpack Summary

Trace amounts of snow continue to rest on aging wind slabs on all aspects Approximately 30 to 50 cm down a decomposing crust, up to 5 cm thick, can be found. It appears to be bonding well to layers above and below and is widespread up to 1300 m and isolated as high as 1700 m.

A weak layer of surface hoar and facets may be buried about 90 to 140 cm deep on north-to-east aspects. This layer may rest on a harder melt-freeze crust. Where preserved, this layer, if triggered, is capable of producing very large avalanches.

Weather Summary

Sunday Night

Mostly cloudy, trace accumulation, winds northerly 20 to 30 km/h, treeline temperatures around -20 ºC.

Monday

Mostly sunny, trace accumulation, winds northeast 30 km/h, treeline temperatures -20 ºC.

Tuesday

Sunny, no accumulation, winds westerly 15km/h increasing to 30 late in the day, treeline temperatures hovering around -20 ºC.

Wednesday

Cloudy with possible late day sunny breaks, winds southerly 30 km/h gusting to 70, treeline temperatures around -15 ºC.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Recent wind has varied in direction so watch for wind slabs on all aspects.
  • The best and safest riding will be on slopes that have soft snow without any slab properties.
  • Avalanche hazard may have improved, but be mindful that deep instabilities are still present.

Problems

Wind Slabs

Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind 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.

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.