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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 23rd, 2019–Mar 24th, 2019

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

Regions

Sea To Sky.

Even if the skies are cloudy you should avoid slopes that have wet and mushy snow. Check out this LINK to see how easy it is to trigger a loose wet avalanche.

Confidence

Moderate - Timing, track, or intensity of incoming weather system is uncertain on Tuesday

Weather Forecast

We're moving into a weather pattern more in keeping with seasonal norms. Monday night's storm should offer a nice refresh at upper elevations and temperatures should remain cool, at least through Wednesday morning.SATURDAY NIGHT: Light south/southeast wind, freezing level around 1500 m, no significant precipitation expected. SUNDAY: Clear skies in the morning building to broken cloud cover by sundown, light southeast wind, freezing level holding around 1700 m, no significant precipitation expected.MONDAY: Broken cloud cover, light southeast wind, freezing level holding around 1800 m, no significant precipitation expected during the day. The freezing level drops to about 1000 m Monday night with 3 to 8 mm of precipitation expected. This will likely start as rain at lower elevations and should produce a trace to as much as 10 cm of snow above treeline, stay tuned for more details.TUESDAY: Overcast, moderate west/southwest wind, freezing level around 1000 m, 10 to 15 cm of snow possible.

Avalanche Summary

In the north of the region on Friday loose wet avalanche activity to size 3 was reported on solar aspects. Sporadic natural slab avalanches were also reported in the alpine and treeline, but no activity was reported from north aspects. Very little activity was reported from areas closer to Whistler.On Thursday, several loose wet avalanches up to size 1 were reported from steep solar terrain at lower elevations. Explosive control produced a size 2.5 loose wet avalanche on a southwest aspect between 1750-2050 m. It ended up triggering three slabs that failed at the ground. Active cornice control using explosives also produced a size 3 cornice failure which did not pull a slab avalanche from the slope below.

Snowpack Summary

Snow surfaces are variable. On higher north aspects above 2000 m you may find some dry, faceted snow. Some of this has been redistributed by southwesterly and northerly winds which may have formed isolated wind slabs. On solar aspects (south and west) at and above treeline the snow surface is expected to have a supportive crust by Sunday Morning. There are still a handful of melt freeze crusts, surface hoar and facets in the upper snowpack, but all of these layers appear to have gone dormant for the time being. We're expecting a good overnight refreeze on Saturday night and increasing cloud cover Sunday which should allow the upper snowpack to solidify.`

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.

Cornices

Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.