Avalanche Forecast
Northwest Coastal
New snow and wind are driving a natural avalanche cycle.
Avalanche Problem 1: Storm Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Be aware of what is above you at all times.
- Give cornices a wide berth when travelling on or below ridges.
- Use conservative route selection. Choose moderate angled and supported terrain with low consequence.
Avalanche Summary
Poor weather has kept avalanche observations to a minimum, but initial reports of a natural cycle up to size 3 came in on Sunday. Ongoing avalanche activity is expected as stormy conditions continue.
Snowpack Summary
Recent storm snow accumulations of 40-80 cm have been affected by ongoing moderate to strong winds from the south-west through north-west at alpine and treeline elevations. This new snow has buried old hard wind slabs, scoured surfaces and sastrugi in many exposed areas. In wind-sheltered terrain, sun crusts or dry facets sit below the recent storm snow.
In the upper pack is an interface of sun crusts, facets and spotty surface hoar (which is most prevalent in sheltered treed locations). Deeper in the snowpack, around 50-150 cm down, you'll find a crust/surface hoar layer, which still has the chance to surprise you and could be triggered from a thin snowpack spot, or with a large trigger like cornice fall. Basal facets may be found near the bottom of the snowpack.
Weather Forecast
MONDAY: Clear in the morning, with cloud and snow developing by afternoon. 20-30 cm overnight. Freezing level near 500 m. Strong south-westerly winds.
TUESDAY: Around 10 cm snow. Freezing level near 400 m. Strong westerly winds.
WEDNESDAY: 5-10 cm snow. Freezing level near 400 m. Strong westerly winds.
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
- Northwest Coastal URL:
http://www.avalanche.ca/api/forecasts/northwest-coastal.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
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New snow and wind have built fresh slabs, which may fail naturally or with the weight of a person. A storm slab could step down to a deeper weak layer, creating a surprisingly large avalanche.