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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Apr 20th, 2022–Apr 21st, 2022

Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
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 Coastal.

Another sunny and warm day might sustain wet loose avalanche potential on solar aspects. The likelihood for this to be limited to small releases on isolated slopes in extreme terrain keeps danger low.

Thinking of bigger objectives? Check out the latest Forecasters' Blog.

Confidence

High -

Weather Forecast

WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Mainly clear. Light east winds.

THURSDAY: Mainly sunny, clouding over in the evening. Light east winds shifting southwest. Treeline high temperatures around 0 to +1.

FRIDAY: Mainly cloudy with cloud increasing and light flurries overnight. Light to moderate south winds, increasing over the day. Treeline high temperatures around 0.

SATURDAY: Cloudy with increasing flurries bringing 10-20 cm of new snow, including Friday overnight amounts. Moderate to strong south winds. Treeline high temperatures around -1.

Avalanche Summary

A few natural wind slab releases were observed in the Bear Pass area on Tuesday afternoon. These reached size 2 (large) and were limited to steep, wind loaded features in the alpine. Otherwise, little avalanche activity was reported over the early part of the week.

Sunday's reports included one observation of a large (size 2.5) natural cornice fall northwest of Terrace, a great reminder of continuously looming cornice hazards. Late in the afternoon, wet loose releases reaching size 2.5 were observed on steep south aspects in the Icy Pass area. 

Saturday's reports included observations of an older natural size 3 (very large) wind slab as well as pinwheeling and minor point releases from steep solar terrain.

On Thursday, a size 3.5 natural cornice failure triggered a deep slab on the steep slope below which ran full path.

Looking forward to Thursday, another sunny day with a slight rise in freezing levels may sustain some potential for small wet loose reactivity.

Snowpack Summary

Light new snow amounts from Monday night through Tuesday mainly buried heavily wind-affected surfaces in open areas, the product of strong outflow wind early last week. In sheltered areas, the flurries may have added to limited stashes of soft, potentially faceted snow. After warming and subsequent freeze on Wednesday, it will add to the growing tally of crusts on solar aspects.

Below 1200 m, a more widespread crust exists at or near the surface. Above 1200 m, 40 to 80 cm of settled storm snow is well bonded to another hard melt-freeze crust from late March.

Terrain and Travel

  • Pay attention to cornices and give them a wide berth when traveling on or below ridges.
  • Watch for unstable snow on specific terrain features, especially when the snow is moist or wet.
  • Carefully evaluate steep lines for wind slabs.

Problems

Cornices

Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.

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.