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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Apr 20th, 2019–Apr 21st, 2019

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

Regions

Northwest Coastal.

The main concern will be wind slabs in high elevation lee terrain on Sunday.

Confidence

Low - Due to the number of field observations

Weather Forecast

SATURDAY night: Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries / light to moderate south wind / alpine high temperature -5 / freezing level 700 m

SUNDAY: Mainly cloudy with flurries, accumulation 5 cm / moderate south winds / alpine high temperature -3 C, freezing level 1000 m

MONDAY: Snow at upper elevations, accumulation 10-20 cm / moderate southwest wind / alpine high temperature -2 C / freezing level 1400 m

TUESDAY: Mainly cloudy with sunny breaks / light southwest wind / alpine high temperature -3 / freezing level 1100 m

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches have been reported in the region. Please submit your observations to the Mountain Information Network.

Snowpack Summary

20-40 cm of new snow fell through the last week. Moderate to strong southwest winds are expected to have formed reactive wind slabs with the new snow over the same time period. This new snow sits on a 5 to 10 cm melt freeze crust except for high elevation north aspects.

A crust that formed in early April crust down 30 to 100 cm on high elevation north facing slopes. Surface hoar and facets were previously observed on this crust and it recently produced sudden results in snowpack tests. At lower elevations, ongoing warm weather has been promoting isothermal snowpack conditions and melting the snowpack away.

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.