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

Apr 19th, 2024–Apr 20th, 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.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Northwest Coastal, Boundary, Stewart.

Large persistent slab avalanches may remain possible to human trigger on steep slopes at treeline and above.

Avoid steep or convex slopes where triggering slabs is more likely.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

Several naturally triggered wet loose avalanches up to size 1.5 were reported on sunny aspects on Thursday.

Snowpack Summary

Dry, settled snow is found on shaded aspects in the alpine. A hard melt-freeze crust exists on the snow surface on sun-exposed slopes to the mountain tops and on all aspects below treeline. The crust will transition to wet snow with daytime warming and re-freeze at night.

50 to 100 cm of snow overlies a hard melt-freeze crust from early April. The overlying snow is slow to bond to the crust where pockets of weak surface hoar or faceted grains rest on the crust, which is most likely on northerly aspects at treeline and alpine elevations.

Weather Summary

Friday night

Clear skies. 20 to 30 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature around -3 °C. Freezing level 500 m.

Saturday

Sunny. 20 to 30 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature +2 °C. Freezing level 1700 m.

Sunday

Mix of sun and cloud. 10 to 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature +1 °C. Freezing level 1500 m.

Monday

Mix of sun and cloud. 10 to 20 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature +1 °C. Freezing level 1500 m.

Check out the Mountain Weather Forecast for additional weather information.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Be aware of the potential for surprisingly large avalanches due to deeply buried weak layers.
  • Choose conservative terrain and watch for clues of instability.
  • Look for signs of instability: whumphing, hollow sounds, shooting cracks, and recent avalanches.
  • Pay attention to cornices and give them a wide berth when traveling on or below ridges.
  • Back off slopes as the surface becomes moist or wet with rising temperatures.

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.

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.