Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 30th, 2024–Jan 31st, 2024

Alpine

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Below Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Alpine

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Below Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Alpine

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Below Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

South Coast, Powell River, North Shore, Tetrahedron.

The onslaught continues, heavy rain has saturated the snowpack at all elevations.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

Observations have been very limited, however, we are confident that a natural avalanche cycle has occurred and potentially continues with more rain and warm temperatures.

Snowpack Summary

The snowpack has been heavily saturated by recent rainfall. The entire snowpack is likely isothermal in most areas.

At lower elevations, the snowpack continues to melt away at an alarming rate.

Weather Summary

Tuesday Night

Partly cloudy with up to 5 mm of rain, southeast alpine winds 40 to 60 km/h, freezing levels around 2500 m.

Wednesday

Cloudy with 30 to 50 mm of rain, south alpine winds 40 to 60 km/h, freezing levels around 2100 m.

Thursday

Cloudy with 5 to 15 mm of rain or wet snow at higher elevations, southeast alpine winds 20 to 40 km/h, freezing levels around around 1600 m.

Friday

Cloudy with trace precipitation, south alpine winds 20 to 40 km/h, freezing levels around 1400 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

Avoid terrain traps such as gullies and cliffs where the consequence of any avalanche could be serious.
The more the snow feels like a slurpy, the more likely loose wet avalanches will become.
Loose avalanches may start small but they can grow and push you into dangerous terrain.

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.