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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 23rd, 2025–Mar 24th, 2025

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

Regions

South Coast Inland, Birkenhead, Duffey, South Chilcotin, Stein, Taseko.

Avoid all avalanche terrain during periods of high hazard.

Many close calls occurred this week, and very large avalanches are expected to continue.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

Saturday, a very large avalanche was snowmobile triggered near Wendy Thompson.

Friday, skiers remotely triggered this very large avalanche near Vantage Peak. Explosive control produced four size 2.5 persistent slab avalanches on northwest alpine slopes.

Monday 18th, two very large persistent slabs were remotely triggered in the Birkenhead area. They occurred on west and east alpine slopes 75 to 100 cm deep, and one of them stepped down to the mid-February week layer.

Snowpack Summary

25 to 40 mm of new snow is expected, falling as rain below 1500m. Snow will be redistributed into deeper, more reactive deposits on north- and east-facing slopes by moderate to strong southwesterly winds.

A melt-freeze crust on southerly slopes up to 2000 m exists about 60 cm deep. This sits over 80 to 150 cm of settled snow.

The early March weak layer of facets or surface hoar on a crust is now down 100 to 170 cm and is present on all aspects except high north-facing slopes. Very large avalanches (size 3 to 3.5) were reported on this layer this past week.

Weak layers formed in mid-February and late-January are now buried 180 to 250 cm deep.

Weather Summary

Sunday Night

Cloudy with 5 to 10 mm, falling as snow above 1400 m. 30 to 60 km/h southwest ridgetop winds. Treeline temperature -2 °C.

Monday

Cloudy with 10 to 20 mm, falling as snow above 1500 m. 20 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop winds. Treeline temperature -1 °C.

Tuesday

Cloudy with trace precipitation. 30 km/h south ridgetop winds. Treeline temperature 3 °C.

Wednesday

Cloudy with trace precipitation. 30 km/h south ridgetop winds. Treeline temperature 4 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Avoid avalanche terrain during periods of heavy loading from new snow, wind, or rain.
  • Storm slabs in motion may step down to deeper layers resulting in large avalanches.
  • Be mindful that deep instabilities are still present and have produced recent large avalanches.
  • Only the most simple non-avalanche terrain with no overhead hazard is appropriate at this time.

Problems

Storm Slabs

Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-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.

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.