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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 20th, 2025–Jan 21st, 2025

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

Regions

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

Stick to conservative terrain free from overhead hazard. Buried weak layers are best managed by choosing simple terrain, and avoiding freshly wind loaded slopes.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches have been reported, however observations are limited. We expect natural wind slab avalanches have occurred during the strong winds on Monday. Wind slabs may have stepped down to the buried weak layers.

On Wednesday, a snowmobile remotely triggered a size 3 persistent slab from 100 m away near Bryant Lake. It was triggered from flat terrain at the col on an ENE aspect at 1500 m.

Snowpack Summary

Sheltered terrain holds around 60 cm of settling snow from the last week. Exposed terrain has been heavily wind affected.

A weak layer of facets and a crust is buried 50 to 100 cm deep. This layer has shown recent reactivity, and we expect it to remain sensitive to human triggering. Check out this recent conditions report for more on the persistent weak layer problem.

Total snow depths are around 160 to 190 cm at treeline.

Weather Summary

Monday Night

Mostly cloudy with a chance of flurries. 20 to 30 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C.

Tuesday

Cloudy. 20 to 40 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -9 °C.

Wednesday

Mostly cloudy with 5 cm of snow. 50 to 60 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C.

Thursday

Mostly cloudy with flurries. 30 to 40 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind-affected terrain.
  • If triggered, wind slabs avalanches may step down to deeper layers resulting in larger avalanches.
  • Remote triggering is a concern; avoid terrain where triggering overhead slopes is possible.

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.

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.