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 5th, 2023–Jan 6th, 2023

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

Regions

Coquihalla, Harrison-Fraser, Manning, Skagit.

Keep an eye on conditions that change with elevation. Wind slab could be encountered at higher elevations. Elevated freezing levels mean that wet loose avalanches are still possible.

Confidence

Moderate

Avalanche Summary

No new avalanches were reported in the past couple days.

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

Snowpack Summary

Ongoing southerly winds have scoured south facing terrain and created wind slab on west, north and east facing terrain features. A new layer of surface hoar exists on or near the surface in sheltered terrain. around 50 to 70cm overlies a rain crust formed in late December. moist snow will likely be observed at lower elevations as the freezing level rises.

The mid-snowpack is well-settled. The lower snowpack consists of several crusts with weak faceted crystals above and below that are beginning to heal and bond to each other.

Snowpack depths are roughly 140 to 180 cm at treeline.

Weather Summary

Thursday Night

Cloudy with light flurries bringing trace amounts of new snow. Strong to extreme southerly winds and freezing levels around 1400m.

Friday

Cloudy with flurries bringing trace amounts of new snow. Moderate southerly winds. Freezing level around 1500m.

Saturday

Cloudy with light flurries bringing trace amounts of new snow. Moderate to strong southerly winds and freezing levels rising to 1600m.

Sunday

Cloudy with flurries bringing a few centimeters of new snow. Strong southerly winds and freezing levels around 1600m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Be careful with wind slabs, especially in steep, unsupported and/or convex terrain features.
  • Use ridges or ribs to avoid areas of wind loaded snow.
  • Back off slopes as the surface becomes moist or wet with rising temperatures.

Problems

Wind Slabs

Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind 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.

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.