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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 27th, 2023–Jan 28th, 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, 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

Coquihalla, Harrison-Fraser, Manning, Skagit.

Expect newly formed reactive wind slabs predominately on south aspect terrain.

Adopt a strategy that chooses well-supported ridgetop areas, and identifies and avoids wind slabs.

Confidence

High

Avalanche Summary

On Wednesday, we received a MIN report of a skier accidental avalanche from Nak Bowl. The avalanche happened when skiing over a convexity and likely released on a crust below the storm snow. A natural size 2.5 wind slab avalanche was also reported from Nak Peak area. This avalanche is suspected to have stepped down to deeper layers. Several loose avalanches were observed up to size 2 on south aspects from solar input and elevated freezing levels.

On Tuesday, several, size 1, natural loose dry avalanches were reported from within the storm snow.

Thank you for all the MINs, please continue to share any observations or photos on the Mountain Information Network.

Snowpack Summary

The past week's storm delivered to this region 30 to 40 cm of new low-density snow. In the alpine and at the treeline elevations storm snow has and continues to be redistributed by a moderate northeast wind. Expect on lee aspect terrain to find pockets of windslab up to 80 cm in depth that overlies a stiff melt-freeze crust.

Generally, the mid and lower snowpack is well-settled. Weak layers exist within the mid and lower snowpack but the thick crusts sitting above them make triggering avalanches on these layers unlikely.

Snowpack depths are 150 to 200 cm at treeline and taper rapidly below 1500 m.

Weather Summary

Friday Night

Cloudy with some clearing. Northwest winds 15 km/h gusting to 30 km/h. 1500m temperature -4 °C. Freezing levels descend to 600 m.

Saturday

Sunny with some cloudy periods. Northeast winds 30 km/h gusting to 50 km/h. 1500 m temperature -8 °C. Freezing levels 700 m descending to 0 m in the afternoon.

Sunday

Sunny and clear. Northeast winds 10 km/h gusting to 25 km/h. 1500m temperatures -8 °C. Freezing levels of 0 m.

Monday

Sunny and clear. Northeast winds 10 km/h gusting to 30 km/h. 1500m temperatures -12 °C. Freezing level 0 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • Stay off recently wind loaded slopes until they have had a chance to stabilize.
  • 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.

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.