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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Apr 15th, 2024–Apr 16th, 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, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Northwest Coastal, Boundary, Stewart.

Human triggering of a buried weak layer remains possible.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

No recent avalanches were observed in the region. The last persistent slab activity occurred last Thursday. Although the likelihood is decreasing, it remains possible for humans to trigger this buried weak layer.

Snowpack Summary

Around 5 to 10 cm of recent snow overlies a hard melt-freeze crust on sun-exposed slopes to the mountain tops and all aspects up to around 1400 m. The snow will likely moisten with daytime warming. Dry, settled snow should persist on shaded aspects in the alpine.

50 to 100 cm of snow overlies a hard melt-freeze crust from early April. The overlying snow is slow to bond to the crust where pockets of weak surface hoar or faceted grains rest on the crust, which is most likely on northerly aspects at treeline and alpine elevations.

Weather Summary

Monday Night

Mostly clear skies. 20 km/h north ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C.

Tuesday

Clear skies. 10 to 20 km/h northeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 0 °C. Freezing level rising to 1300 m.

Wednesday

Clear skies. 10 km/h east ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 1 °C. Freezing level rising to 1400 m.

Thursday

Clear skies. 10 km/h east ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 3 °C. Freezing level rising to 1700 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Be aware of the potential for surprisingly large avalanches due to deeply buried weak layers.
  • Look for signs of instability: whumphing, hollow sounds, shooting cracks, and recent avalanches.
  • Pay attention to cornices and give them a wide berth when traveling on or below ridges.
  • Back off slopes as the surface becomes moist or wet with rising temperatures.

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.