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

Mar 17th, 2024–Mar 18th, 2024

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

Regions

South Coast, Powell River, North Shore, Sasquatch, Sasquatch, Tetrahedron, Harrison-Fraser.

The snowpack has seen several days of high temperatures.

Avoid avalanche terrain and overhead hazard, particularly sun affected slopes.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

Wet avalanches continued to be reported on Saturday, up to size 2.

Activity was concentrated on steep sun affected slopes in the heat of the day. Continued wet avalanches and cornice failures are expected as warming persists.

Snowpack Summary

The upper 30-50 cm of the snowpack is wet from warm temperatures and strong sunshine. This wet snow has a poor bond with the dry snow, or thin crust found below.

The mid and lower snowpack is well settled and dense, however buried crusts exist that may make sliding surfaces for avalanche activity as the warming affects deeper into the snowpack.

Check out this Mt Strachan MIN for more details on local conditions.

Weather Summary

Sunday Night

Clear skies. 15 km/h southerly ridgetop wind. Freezing level remains above 3000 m.

Monday

Sunny. 10-20 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature +12 °C with freezing level above 3000 m.

Tuesday

Sunny. 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature +10 °C with freezing level dropping to 2500 m in the afternoon.

Wednesday

Cloudy with light snowfall. 30-40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 0 °C with freezing level dropping to 1200 m in the afternoon.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Avoid exposure to overhead avalanche terrain as temperatures increase.
  • Keep in mind that wet avalanches can be destructive due to their high density.
  • Cornice failure may trigger large avalanches.

Problems

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.