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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 24th, 2025–Mar 25th, 2025

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

Regions

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

Many close calls occurred this week, and very large avalanches are still human-triggerable.

Avoid all avalanche terrain during periods of high hazard.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

We expect avalanches to continue with wet and large slab avalanches being easy to trigger during this warm period.

Saturday, a very large persistent slab avalanche was snowmobile triggered near Wendy Thompson. Cornice fall in the Chilcotins also triggered a size 2.5 storm slab on a slope below.

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

Snowpack Summary

10 to 15 cm of new snow has been redistributed into deeper deposits on north- and east-facing slopes by moderate to strong southwesterly winds. Below treeline, this fell as rain so expect to find moist surface snow. Warm temperatures today may moisten surfaces at all elevations.

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

Monday Night

Cloudy with 5 mm, falling as snow above 1500 m. 20 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop winds. Treeline temperature -2 °C.

Tuesday

Cloudy with trace rain. 30 to 50 km/h southwest ridgetop winds. Treeline temperature 2 °C.

Wednesday

Partly cloudy with trace rain. 20 km/h south ridgetop winds. Treeline temperature 4 °C.

Thursday

Mostly cloudy with up to 5 mm, falling as snow above 1500 m. 20 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop winds. Treeline temperature 0 °C. Freezing level drops to 1500 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Only the most simple non-avalanche terrain with no overhead hazard is appropriate at this time.
  • 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.
  • Use extra caution for areas that are experiencing rapidly warming temperatures for the first 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.