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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 8th, 2025–Mar 9th, 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 possible, human triggered probable.
Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.

Regions

Sea To Sky, Brandywine, Garibaldi, Homathko, Spearhead, Tantalus.

Travel in avalanche terrain is not recommended on Sunday.

As the storm slab problem worsens, the easy solution is to choose more conservative terrain.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

By 4 pm on Saturday, several natural and human-triggered storm slab avalanches were reported up to size 2.

As storm snow accumulates through the weekend, we anticipate that increased avalanche activity will persist on Sunday.

If you are headed to the backcountry, please consider sharing your photos and observations from your day on the Mountain Information Network.

Snowpack Summary

By Sunday morning, storm snow totals are expected to be up to 80 cm, with an additional 20 to 40 cm of snow expected through the day. Storm snow covers a crust on all aspects except on high north facing terrain, where new snow buries 10 to 15 cm of snow overlying a crust from earlier in March.

A layer of facets and surface hoar from mid February can be found down 30 to 60 cm.

Another layer of facets and surface hoar from late January can be found down 80 to 120 cm.

The lower snowpack contains several crusts that are not concerning.

Weather Summary

Saturday Night

Cloudy with heavy flurries, 30 to 55 cm of snow. 50 to 70 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level around 1300 m.

Sunday

Cloudy with flurries, 20 to 40 cm of snow. 30 to 40 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C. Freezing level around 1000 m.

Monday

Partly cloudy with light flurries, 1 to 3 cm. 10 to 25 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C. Freezing level around 800 m.

Tuesday

Partly cloudy with light flurries, 1 to 5 cm. 20 to 30 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C. Freezing level around 1000 m.

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 slab size and sensitivity to triggering will likely increase through the day.
  • Avoid freshly wind-loaded terrain features.
  • Storm slabs in motion may step down to deeply buried weak layers and result in very large avalanches.

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.