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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 16th, 2024–Feb 17th, 2024

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

Regions

South Coast, Powell River, North Shore, Sasquatch, Sasquatch, Sky Pilot, Tetrahedron.

Human-triggerable wind slabs can be found in the region's highest elevations where the hard early February crust is buried by wind-transported snow.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

No recent avalanches have been observed in the North Shore mountains.

A small (size 1) wind slab was triggered by a skier near Powell River on Wednesday (see photo).

Snowpack Summary

A surface crust exists to the top of the North Shore mountains, while higher elevations in other parts of the region have heavily wind-affected surfaces.

Conditions remain rugged at lower elevations.

Weather Summary

Friday night

Clear. Southeast or east alpine winds 35-40 km/h. Freezing level rising to 2000 m.

Saturday

Becoming cloudy in the afternoon. Southeast alpine wind 25-35 km/h. Treeline temperature +3 °C with freezing level around 1800 m.

Sunday

Cloudy with wet flurries bringing up to 5 cm of high elevation snow, light rain below about 1200 m. South alpine winds 30-40 km/h. Treeline temperature reaching 0°C with freezing level climbing to 1400 m.

Monday

Cloudy with isolated alpine flurries, light rain below about 1400 m. East alpine wind 10-20 km/h. Treeline temperature +2 with freezing level reaching 1700 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Watch for wind-loaded pockets especially around ridgecrest and in extreme terrain.
  • Back off slopes as the surface becomes moist or wet with rising temperatures.
  • A crust on the surface will help bind the snow together, but may make for tough travel conditions.

Problems

Wind Slabs

Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind 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.

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.