Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 8th, 2025–Feb 9th, 2025

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, 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

North Columbia, South Columbia, Jordan, North Selkirk, West Purcell, Badshot-Battle, Central Selkirk, Goat, Gold, Kokanee, Retallack, Valhalla, Whatshan.

Stick to conservative terrain.

Avoid areas where either the sun or wind has formed light and dry snow into a cohesive slab.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

On Friday, a snow safety technician triggered large (size 2.5) persistent slab avalanche and explosives triggered slabs up to size 2.

On Thursday numerous small (size 1) skier-triggered avalanches have been reported, with one very large (size 3) persistent slab avalanche.

Slabs ranged from 40 to 100 cm deep, occurring on all aspects and elevations. It remains possible for humans to trigger similar avalanches going forward. Read more about this problem here.

Snowpack Summary

Around 40 to 60 cm of snow accumulated last week and is beginning to facet and develop surface hoar in protected areas. Recent easterly wind in the alpine and northerly wind near valley bottom redistributed this snow in wind-exposed terrain. The snow remains soft in wind-sheltered terrain with a lack of slab properties. The snow overlies various layers that it may not bond well to, including faceted grains, surface hoar crystals and a hard melt-freeze crust on sun-exposed slopes.

The middle portion of the snowpack between approximately 50 and 100 cm deep is faceted with numerous other layers of surface hoar and/or crusts that formed over the month of January.

The lower snowpack is well settled and strong.

Weather Summary

Saturday night

Starry skies with few clouds. 10 to 20 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline low temperature -24 °C.

Sunday

Partly cloudy. 10 to 25 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline high temperature -14 °C.

Monday

Sunny. 5 to 15 km/h northeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -18 °C.

Tuesday

Mostly sunny. 20 to 40 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -18 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

It's a good day to make conservative terrain choices.
Remote triggering is a big concern, be aware of the potential for wide propagations and large, destructive avalanches at all elevations.
If triggered, wind slabs avalanches may step down to deeper layers resulting in larger avalanches.

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.