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

Jan 27th, 2024–Jan 28th, 2024

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

Regions

Vancouver Island, East Island, North Island, South Island, West Island.

Heavy rain and extreme winds are forecast to continue; anticipate loose wet avalanche activity at all elevations.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

On Friday the field team reported seeing numerous small loose wet avalanches in the Mt. Arrowsmith area. For more details check out their MIN.

With the current warm and very wet conditions hitting the Island we suspect a natural avalanche cycle is ongoing.

Snowpack Summary

Rain has saturated the snowpack right to mountaintop elevations.

In the mid-snowpack, a crust/facet combination may exist in high alpine terrain.

The potential remains for wet slabs to be triggered on this crust in isolated areas.

Otherwise, the mid and lower snowpack contains a series of old crusts and is currently well-bonded and strong.

Weather Summary

Saturday Night

Cloudy with heavy rain, southwest alpine winds 60-80 km/h, treeline temperature 8°C, freezing levels around 2500 m.

Sunday

Cloudy with moderate to heavy rain, southwest alpine winds 60-70 km/h, treeline temperature 8°C, freezing levels around 2500 m.

Monday

Cloudy with very heavy rain, south alpine winds 100 km/h, treeline temperature 10°C, freezing levels around 2800 m.

Tuesday

Cloudy with light rain, southwest alpine winds 30-40 km/h, treeline temperature 6°C, freezing levels around 2000 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • If triggered loose wet avalanches may step down to deeper layers resulting in larger avalanches.
  • Avoid terrain traps such as gullies and cliffs where the consequence of any avalanche could be serious.

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.