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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 27th, 2024–Jan 28th, 2024

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

Regions

Coquihalla, Harrison-Fraser, Manning, Skagit.

Heavy rain and warm temperatures have spread to the mountain tops.

Watch for snow becoming wet, heavy, and more reactive on the crust below.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

A large (size 2) natural wet slab avalanche was reported in the Coquihalla area. It is suspected this avalanche was initiated by small loose wet sluffing, that then triggered a larger avalanche.

Snowpack Summary

In the alpine, up to 25 cm of wind redistributed snow sits on a decomposing melt-freeze crust. At treeline and below, 10 cm sits on a crust from Tuesdays warming event. All of this snow is rapidly settling and becoming wet with the rising freezing levels and rain.

The mid and lower snowpack contain several crusts that are not concerning. The snowpack remains shallow for this time of year.

Weather Summary

Saturday Night

Cloudy with 20 to 40 mm of rain. Southwest alpine wind, 40 to 50 km/h. Freezing level rising to 2500 m.

Sunday

Cloudy with 5 to 15 mm of rain. Southwest alpine wind, 30 to 50 km/h. Freezing level 2500 m.

Monday

Mix of sun and clouds, no new precipitation. Southwest alpine winds, 30 to 50 km/h. Freezing level 2700 m.

Tuesday

Mainly cloudy, 3 to 5 mm of rain. Southwest alpine winds, 20 to 40 km/h. Freezing level falling to 2300 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • The more the snow feels like a slurpy, the more likely loose wet avalanches will become.
  • Even a small avalanche can be harmful if it pushes you into an obstacle or a terrain trap.

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.

Wet Slabs

Wet Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) that is generally moist or wet when the flow of liquid water weakens the bond between the slab and the surface below (snow or ground). They often occur during prolonged warming events and/or rain-on-snow events. Wet Slabs can be very unpredictable and destructive.