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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Dec 22nd, 2022–Dec 23rd, 2022

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

Regions

Sea To Sky, Brandywine, Garibaldi, Homathko, Powell River, Spearhead, Tantalus, Tetrahedron.

Stormy conditions begin Friday, burying a weak, unconsolidated layer produced during the recent cold snap.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

No notable recent avalanches have been reported. Expect avalanche activity to start with new snow, wind, and warming temperatures starting Friday.

Please continue to post your observations and photos to the Mountain Information Network.

Snowpack Summary

New snow will accumulate throughout the day, accompanied by strong winds. New snow will generally overlie a facetted, weak, unconsolidated layer formed during the recent cold snap.

A number of layers persist deeper in the snowpack, consisting of facets, surface hoar, and crusts.

Total snow depths are roughly 90 to 140 cm at treeline and up to 200 cm in the alpine.

Weather Summary

Thursday night

Cloudy with snow, 5 to 10 cm. Temperatures -10 to -15 C and mostly light south winds.

Friday

Cloudy with snow, about 10 cm. Temperatures of -5 to -10 C, and moderate to strong southwest winds.

Saturday

Cloudy with heavy snowfall, 30 to 40 cm. Temperatures around 0 to -5 C and strong south winds in the alpine. Freezing levels rise to roughly 1000m.

Sunday

Cloudy with snow, 10 to 20 cm. Temperatures around 0 C and moderate south winds in the alpine.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Storm slab size and sensitivity to triggering will likely increase through the day.
  • Storm slabs in motion may step down to deeper layers resulting in large avalanches.

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.

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.