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 14th, 2024–Mar 15th, 2024

Alpine
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Below Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Alpine
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Below Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Alpine
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Below Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.

Regions

Purcells, Dogtooth, East Purcell.

Avoid being in or under avalanche terrain.

Intense spring sun and rising temperatures are making large natural avalanches likely.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

On Wednesday, west of Golden, a large, surprising human triggered persistent slab avalanche was reported. This avalanche was triggered on a ridge crest that had been previously ski cut. A few hours can make a big difference.

Persistent slab avalanches continue to be reported, and even bigger avalanches were frequent last week.

Looking forward, we are expecting persistent avalanche problems to become worse with rising temperatures and intense spring sun.

Snowpack Summary

In the morning, dry snow may remain at high elevations with refrozen crusts at lower elevations. Through the day, surface snow will start to melt due to intense spring sun and freezing levels forecasted to be well above mountain tops. This loose, melted snow will get deeper into the snowpack as the day goes on. 

A widespread crust is buried roughly 80-120 cm deep. Weak faceted crystals and surface hoar above this crust are contributing to large avalanches across the province and continue to be the primary layer of concern here.

Additionally, the lower snowpack is mostly made up of weak and faceted layers, which have the potential to produce very large avalanches with prolonged warming.

Weather Summary

Any night-time cooling will be restricted to near valley bottom, the alpine will stay above 0 °C.

Thursday Night

Clear. No new snow expected. Light west ridgetop wind. Freezing level falling slightly to 1900 m. Treeline temperature around -1 °C.

Friday

Mostly sunny. No new snow expected. Light northwest ridgetop wind. Freezing level rising to 2800 m. Treeline high around 4 °C.

Saturday

Sunny. No new snow expected. Light northwest ridgetop wind. Freezing level rising to 3200 m. Treeline high around 6 °C.

Sunday

Sunny. No new snow expected. Light south ridgetop wind. Freezing level rising to 3500 m. Treeline high around 7 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Only the most simple non-avalanche terrain free of overhead hazard is appropriate at this time.
  • Be aware of the potential for large, deep avalanches to run full path or even longer.
  • A moist or wet snow surface, pinwheeling and natural avalanches are all indicators of a weakening snowpack.
  • Cornices become weak with daytime heating or solar exposure.

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.

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.