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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Dec 18th, 2023–Dec 19th, 2023

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

North Rockies, McBride, Sugarbowl, Kakwa, McGregor, Renshaw, Robson.

A problematic layer of buried surface hoar exists at an optimal depth for human triggering.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches have been reported since the stormier weather over the weekend. However, reports of whumpfing and shooting cracks have been common throughout the field observations.

If you go out in the backcountry, please consider sharing your observations on the Mountain Information Network (MIN).

Snowpack Summary

20-40 cm of recent snow continues to settle over old, hard surfaces, like wind slabs or a frozen crust.

A concerning layer of surface hoar can be found 50-90 cm below the snow surface.

A crust with sugary facets beneath it can be found just above the ground. Average snowpack depths at treeline range from 65 to 100 cm.

Weather Summary

Monday Night

Cloudy with trace amounts of snow, south alpine winds 10 to 20 km/h, treeline temperature -4 °C.

Tuesday

Cloudy with trace amounts of snow, southwest alpine winds 20 to 40 km/h, treeline temperature -1 °C.

Wednesday

Mostly cloudy with 2 to 5 cm of snow, southwest alpine winds 20 to 50 km/h, treeline temperature -1 °C.

Thursday

Mostly cloudy with 0 to 10 cm of snow, southwest alpine winds 20 to 50 km/h, treeline temperature -1 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Uncertainty is best managed through conservative terrain choices at this time.
  • Look for signs of instability: whumphing, hollow sounds, shooting cracks, and recent avalanches.
  • If you are increasing your exposure to avalanche terrain, do it gradually as you gather information.

Problems

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.