Avalanche Forecast
South Coast Inland
A steady stream of light precipitation should fall as snow at upper elevations and begin to accumulate in the coming days.
Avalanche Problem 1: Wind Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Be careful with wind loaded pockets, especially near ridge crests and roll-overs.
- Use ridges or ribs to avoid pockets of wind loaded snow.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanche activity to report from Friday or Saturday at the time of writing this bulletin.
Snowpack Summary
Warm temperatures likely produced a few millimeters of rain as high as 2000 m on Friday, this likely occurred throughout the region. Previous to Friday's rain event, warm alpine temperatures had allowed the upper 5 cm of the snowpack to become moist, even on upper elevation northeast facing features. As temperatures cooled Friday night into Saturday a crust has formed on the surface.
On December 28th and 29th two successive storms produced 50 to 80 cm of snow. On December 29th and 30th strong to extreme winds out of the southwest, south and southeast created widespread wind effect. Time and warm temperatures allowed this snow to settle and bond well with the underlying surface.
A widespread melt-freeze crust formed in mid-December may still be an issue in the northern portion of the region where it's down 50 to 100 cm below the surface, but is likely trending towards dormancy. Around the Coquihalla this interface is now thought to be part of a well bonded mid-pack.
The lower snowpack is generally strong and well settled.
Weather Forecast
SUNDAY: Flurries, accumulations 5-15cm / moderate southwest wind / Alpine temperature -3
MONDAY: Flurries, accumulation 5cm / Light to moderate southwest wind / Alpine temperature -4
TUESDAY: Cloudy with flurries / Light west wind / Alpine temperature -3
Avalanche Forecasts in your Inbox
Avalanche Canada has switched to an RSS feed for its daily forecasts. This is a much more flexible method that allows automatic delivery to your email inbox, or to an RSS reader of your choice.
What are RSS feeds?
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a popular standardized file format allowing up-to-date delivery of web-based content. RSS feeds enable you to receive content updates from websites, delivered to your email through an RSS aggregator (such as blogtrottr.com) or viewed through applications called RSS readers (such as feedly.com).
Set up an RSS feed for your email:
Select a RSS aggregator
- South Coast Inland URL:
http://www.avalanche.ca/api/forecasts/south-coast-inland.rss - Copy the url and paste it into the appropriate field of your RSS aggregator.
- Fill in your email address.
- Voila! Watch the Avalanche Canada forecast roll into your inbox.
Forecast Disclaimer
Avalanche Canada's Public Avalanche Bulletin, and other information and services provided by Avalanche Canada, are intended for personal and recreational purposes only.
**THIS INFORMATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND IN NO EVENT SHALL THE PROVIDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES RESULTING FROM DISCOMFORT, INJURY, OR DEATH, CLAIMS BY THIRD PARTIES OR FOR OTHER SIMILAR COSTS, OR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF THE INFORMATION.**
The user acknowledges that it is impossible to accurately predict natural events such as avalanches in every instance, and uses the data in this bulletin with this always foremost in mind. The accuracy or reliability of the data is not guaranteed or warranted in any way and the Providers disclaim liability of any kind whatsoever, including, without limitation, liability for quality, performance, merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose arising out of the use, or inability to use the data.
Light snowfall coupled with strong winds out of the southwest will likely form wind slabs in lee terrain. These slabs may be sitting on a thin crust which could increase their sensitivity to human triggering.