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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 12th, 2024–Jan 13th, 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 Inland, Howson, Kispiox, Microwave-Sinclair, North Bulkley, South Bulkley, South Bulkley, South Bulkley, Telkwa.

Use caution when transitioning into wind-loaded terrain.The extreme cold temperatures are forecast to linger for a couple more days; check out this blog for tips on managing cold weather.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

Friday Ski tourers near Hudson Bay Mountain felt whumpfing and saw a few small naturally triggered wind slabs in the alpine out of south-facing slopes.

Wednesday The field team experienced shooting cracks ski cutting a wind-loaded southwest-facing alpine slope. They also saw several small wind slabs on similar slopes that were a few days old. More details HERE.

Tuesday The field team experienced whumpfing on a north-facing ridge near Hazelton.

Snowpack Summary

A new layer of surface hoar is growing on the surface. 15 to 20 cm of recent storm snow is sitting on a rain crust up to 1650 m. In the alpine recent wind slabs have built on south and westerly faces.

Two or more preserved surface hoar layers can be found buried between 35 and 70 cm deep. These layers are most prominent at treeline and below treeline elevations, above 1200 m. They've also been observed in north and east-facing alpine locations.

Snowpack depths at treeline vary across the region with generally deeper amounts (150 to 120 cm) west of the highway, and shallower (50 to 90 cm) to the east.

Weather Summary

Friday Night

Skies mostly clear overnight with no new snow, variable alpine wind 5-15 km/h, treeline temperatures drop to -31 ºC.

Saturday

Partially cloudy, no new snow, southeasterly alpine wind 5-10 km/h, treeline temperature high of -25 ºC.

Sunday

A mix of sun and cloud, no new snow, westerly alpine wind 10-25 km/h, treeline temperature high of -20 ºC.

Monday

Cloudy, no new snow, southwest alpine wind 5-10 km/h, treeline temperature high of -11 ºC.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Look for signs of instability: whumphing, hollow sounds, shooting cracks, and recent avalanches.
  • Carefully evaluate steep lines for wind slabs.

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.

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.