Avalanche Forecast
Northwest Coastal
Freezing levels on Thursday are uncertain. As a result, forecast precipitation may come in as a combination of rain (low elevation), snow (high alpine) and/or freezing rain (between 1000-1300m).
Avalanche Problem 1: Wind Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Watch for whumpfing, stiff or hollow sounding snow, and shooting cracks.
- Be cautious as you transition into wind affected terrain.
Avalanche Problem 2: Loose Wet
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Possible rain on snow will weaken the surface snow and cause it sluff in steep terrain.
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Be cautious of sluffing in steep terrain, particularly where the debris flows into terrain traps.
Avalanche Summary
Recent avalanche activity has been reported as small loose dry avalanches in steep terrain on all aspects along with isolated wind slab avalanches on east aspects in the alpine and at tree line.
Snowpack Summary
Up to 10cm of new snow has fallen in some parts of the region so far in the new year.
Cold temperatures and strong winds (from a wide range of directions) have affected the surface snow over the past week, scouring some slopes down to an old crust and forming hard deposits in many other areas. There are some lingering wind slabs, found on a variety of old surfaces including a thick melt-freeze crust that formed in mid-December. Cornices have also been noted at ridge tops, lee (downwind) to strong north east winds last week.
In non-wind affected terrain, 20-40 cm of faceted (sugary) snow overlies the mid-December crust layer. This snow has been sluffing in steep terrain.
Beneath the mid-December crust the snowpack is reported to be generally strong with the possible exception of areas around Stewart and northern parts of the region where the late-October, basal crust can be found near the base of the snowpack. Weak sugary faceted snow may exist around this deeply buried crust and could be triggered from shallow snowpack areas.
Weather Forecast
THURSDAY: Cloudy with isolated freezing rain or flurries / Light to moderate south wind / Alpine temperature -1
FRIDAY: Flurries, accumulation 5-10cm / Moderate to strong south wind / Alpine temperature 0
SATURDAY: Flurries, accumulation 10-15cm / Moderate to strong south wind / Alpine temperature -4
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
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.
Wind slabs may be lingering around ridge crests, exposed gullies and cross-loaded slopes. These wind slabs may be poorly bonded to the buried mid-December crust layer and reactive to human triggers.