Dashboard Regions Weather Stations Radar Alerts Glossary
Contact About
Log In

Register for an account and never miss a forecast again!

Register

Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 24th, 2020–Jan 27th, 2020

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

Regions

Yukon.

Heavy snowfall and strong wind are ramping up avalanche danger in the region on Sunday. Opt for simple, low angle terrain that is free of overhead hazard. Updated Sunday at 0630h

Confidence

High -

Weather Forecast

FRIDAY NIGHT: Cloudy with isolated flurries, moderate wind from the southwest, alpine high temperatures around -10 C.

SATURDAY: Flurries, accumulation 5-10 cm, moderate wind from the south, alpine high temperatures around -11 C.

SUNDAY: Snow, accumulation 15-25 cm, moderate to strong wind from the southwest, alpine high temperatures around -7 C.

MONDAY: Flurries, accumulation 5-10 cm, moderate south wind, alpine high temperatures around -8 C.

Avalanche Summary

There have been no reports of avalanche activity in the past few days. Expect natural storm slab activity to increase on Sunday when moderate to heavy snowfall is forecast.

Snowpack Summary

30 cm of very light new snow has fallen over the past several days. Initially this snow fell with very little wind and is obscuring widespread wind effect from last week. Lingering buried hard wind slabs may still be found. Prolonged cold temperatures last week have faceted the buried wind slabs and wind crust formed during the wind event. 

Snow depths at White Pass average around 150 cm; deeper locations (higher terrain west of the highway) have as much as 200 cm. It's reasonable to expect a thin snowpack with sugary facets in the Wheaton Valley, although we don't yet have observations to confirm this.

Terrain and Travel

  • Use increased caution at all elevations. Storm snow is forming touchy slabs.
  • Expect slab conditions to change drastically as you move into wind exposed terrain.

Problems

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.