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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 2nd, 2023–Mar 3rd, 2023

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

Regions

Sea To Sky, Brandywine, Garibaldi, Homathko, Powell River, Spearhead, Tantalus, Sasquatch.

More snow falling in our region will create reactive wind slabs.

Use extra caution in wind-loaded terrain.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

On Tuesday, a few skier-controlled storm slabs were reported up to size 1, and previous old natural avalanche activity was seen from last weekend's storm.

On Monday, several natural storm slab and cornice failures were reported up to size 2. The cornice fall triggered a slab up to 50 cm deep from the slope below to size 2. Additionally, numerous explosive-controlled wind slab avalanches and cornices were reported up to size 2.

For today, natural avalanches are possible, and human-triggered storm slabs are likely, especially in wind-loaded areas. Storm slab reactivity is expected to persist for longer than is typical due to the weak surface they are sitting on.

For a deeper dive into conditions leading up to last weekend's storm, check out this awesome South Coast Conditions Report posted by Zenith Guides.

Snowpack Summary

Another 20 cm may arrive by Friday evening. This will add to the 40 to 70 cm that accumulated over the past 5 days. In some areas, this new snow has bonded poorly to the underlying surface consisting of stiff wind slabs and facets formed by last week's wind and cold temperatures.

Deeper in the snowpack 60 to 180 cm down exists two crusts with facets sitting above them. They can be found in alpine and treeline elevation bands. These crust/facet layers have been responsible for a few large avalanches in the past 2 weeks in the Brandywine and Pemberton Icefield areas.

The remainder of the mid and lower snowpack is well-settled, strong, and consolidated.

Weather Summary

Thursday Night

Cloudy, 10 to 15 cm accumulation, winds southwest 35 km/h, treeline temperatures -10 to -5 °C.

Friday

Cloudy, 5 to 10 cm accumulation, winds southwest 25 km/h gusting to 50, treeline temperatures around -10 °C.

Saturday

A mix of sun and cloud, 2 cm accumulation, winds southeast 25 km/h, treeline temperatures -7 °C.

Sunday

A mix of sun and cloud, 2 to 5 cm accumulation, winds east 20 to 30 km/h, treeline temperatures -5 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Avoid all 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.
  • Don't be too cavalier with decision making, storm slabs may remain sensitive to human triggering.
  • Carefully monitor the bond between the new snow and old surface.

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.