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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 15th, 2024–Mar 16th, 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

Northwest Coastal, Boundary, Kitimat, Nass, Rupert, Seven Sisters, Shames, Stewart, Howson, Ningunsaw, Ningunsaw, Ningunsaw.

Avoid all avalanche terrain.

Unseasonable warm weather will likely result in a widespread natural avalanche cycle.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

Widespread natural avalanche activity continued across the region on Thursday. Several very large persistent slabs and wet avalanches (loose and slabs) were reported at all elevations.

We expect widespread, large, natural avalanches to continue with forecasted warm temperatures.

Snowpack Summary

Thursday, the region received 15 to 20 cm of wet snow (or rain at lower elevations). This warm snow was redistributed by southerly winds at upper elevations. This overlies the settled 40 to 80 cm of storm snow.

Several persistent weak layers are buried between 90 and 180 cm deep, including hard crusts with overlying weak facets and surface hoar. These weak layers have been responsible for continued avalanche activity over the last week.

At lower elevations, the upper snowpack is wet.

Weather Summary

Friday Night

A few clouds. 15 to 20 km/h west ridgetop winds. Treeline temperatures around 0 °C. Freezing level 3000 m.

Saturday

Mainly sunny. 20 to 30 km/h south ridgetop winds. Treeline temperatures around +6 °C. Freezing level 3200 m.

Sunday

Mix of sun and clouds. 30 to 50 km/h southwest ridgetop winds. Treeline temperatures around +5 °C. Freezing level 2000 m.

Monday

Cloudy. 20 km/h southwest ridgetop winds. Treeline temperatures around +5 °C. Freezing level 2000 m.

For more details, see the Mountain Weather Forecast.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Avoid exposure to overhead avalanche terrain as temperatures increase.
  • Persistent slabs have potential to pull back to lower angle terrain.
  • Cornice failure may trigger large avalanches.
  • Very large and destructive avalanches could reach valley bottom.

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.