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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Mar 17th, 2026–Mar 18th, 2026

Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Alpine
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Treeline
Natural and human triggered avalanches likely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.

Regions

Kootenay Boundary, Purcells, Bonnington, Grohman, Kootenay Pass, Norns, Rossland, Ymir, Crawford, St. Mary, Kokanee, Retallack, Valhalla.

Conditions are variable across the region.

Warm temperatures and mixed precipitation are creating dangerous avalanche conditions.

Choose only simple terrain with no overhead hazards.

Confidence

Moderate

  • We are uncertain about how the timing or intensity of warming will affect the snowpack.

Avalanche Summary

On Monday, A skier remote triggered a size 2 storm slab north of Nelson.

Numerous storm slabs were reported that were human and naturally triggered. Sizes ranged from size 1 to 2.

Snowpack Summary

Variable surface conditions including, moist snow, crusts breaking down, and wind affected snow.

A crust buried early in March is down roughly 50 cm on all aspects. The thickness of the crust depends on elevation.

At upper elevations, where the crust is thinner or not present, it may still be possible to trigger persistent slabs on multiple buried weak layers of surface hoar and/or crusts in the top 120 cm of the snowpack.

The mid/lower snowpack is well settled and strong in most areas.

Weather Summary

Tuesday Night
Cloudy. 10 to 15 mm of rain at treeline. 50 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 1 °C. Freezing level 2400 m.

Wednesday
Cloudy. 2 to 4 mm of rain at treeline. 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 1 °C. Freezing level 2400 m.

Thursday
Cloudy. 5 to 15 mm of rain at treeline. 50 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 3 °C. Freezing level 2600 m.

Friday
Cloudy. 20 to 35 mm of rain at treeline. 60 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 4 °C. Freezing level 2800 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Make conservative terrain choices and avoid overhead hazard.
  • Watch for signs of instability like whumpfing, hollow sounds, shooting cracks, or recent avalanches.
  • Storm slab size and sensitivity to triggering will likely increase through the day.
  • As the storm slab problem worsens, the easy solution is to choose more conservative terrain.
  • Loose avalanches may step down to deeper layers, resulting in larger avalanches.

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.

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.

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.