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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 14th, 2024–Mar 15th, 2024

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

Regions

Northwest Coastal, Boundary, Kitimat, Nass, Rupert, Seven Sisters, Shames, Stewart, Howson, Ningunsaw, Ningunsaw, Ningunsaw.

Avoid all avalanche terrain.

Unseasonable warm weather will likely result in a widespread natural avalanche cycle.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

Widespread natural avalanche activity occurred across the region on Thursday. Several very large persistent slabs and wet avalanches (loose and slabs) were reported at all elevations. With this forecasted warming, we expect a widespread avalanche cycle on slopes that did not avalanche yet.

Snowpack Summary

Thursday, the region received 15 to 20 cm of wet snow (or rain at lower elevations). This warm snow was redistributed by southerly winds at upper elevations. This overlies the settled 40 to 80 cm of storm snow. Several persistent weak layers are now buried between 90 and 180 cm deep, including hard crusts with overlying weak facets and surface hoar. These weak layers have been responsible for continued avalanche activities over the last week. At lower elevations, the upper snowpack is wet.

Weather Summary

Thursday Night

Cloudy with 5 mm of rain expected or wet snow in alpine. 50 to 70 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperatures around +3 °C. Freezing level rising to 2500 m.

Friday

Cloudy with no precipitation. 30 to 50 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperatures around +6 °C. Freezing level rising to 3000 m.

Saturday

Mainly cloudy and sunny periods with no precipitation. 30 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperatures around +8 °C. Freezing level around 3500 m.

Sunday

Mix of sun and clouds with no precipitation. 50 to 60 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperatures around +5 °C. Freezing level rising to 2500 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Avoid exposure to overhead avalanche terrain as temperatures increase.
  • Persistent slabs have potential to pull back to lower angle terrain.
  • Cornice failure may trigger large avalanches.
  • Very large and destructive avalanches could reach valley bottom.

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.

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.