Avalanche Forecast
Northwest Coastal
Avalanche danger is on the rise as new snow accumulates. Take a cautious approach to terrain selection during the storm.
Avalanche Problem 1: Storm Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Travel and Terrain Advice
- The new snow will require several days to settle and stabilize.
- Use extra caution in lee areas above treeline. Slabs will be touchier if wind loading has occurred.
- Use ridges or ribs to avoid steep pockets of wind loaded snow.
Avalanche Summary
No recent slab avalanches have been reported. Looking forward, slab avalanche potential will be increasing as new snow accumulates.
Snowpack Summary
New storm slabs are developing on the surface as new snow continues to accumulate. The new snow is falling on a mix of old wind slabs and temperature crusts left over from the weekend. Professionals have been monitoring a few layers in the upper snowpack, including crusts and surface hoar layers buried 40-80 cm below the surface. Although these layers have been reactive in recent snowpack tests, they have not produced avalanches lately. The lower snowpack is generally strong, with the exception of areas around Stewart and further north where a basal crust and facets exist.
Weather Forecast
Wednesday night: Flurries bringing 5-10 cm of new snow. Light southeast winds.
Thursday: Cloudy with continuing scattered flurries bringing 1-5 cm of new snow. Light southeast winds. Freezing level to around 600 metres with alpine high temperatures to about -5.
Friday: Cloudy with isolated flurries and a trace of new snow. Light southeast winds. Freezing level to 500 metres with alpine high temperatures of -5.
Saturday: Cloudy with scattered flurries bringing 2-5 cm of new snow. Light to moderate southwest winds. Freezing level to 500 metres with alpine high temperatures around -6.
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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.
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- Northwest Coastal URL:
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Forecast snowfall amounts have been downgraded, but fresh storm slabs will still be building over Wednesday night and Thursday. Give the new snow time to form a solid bond to the surface before heading into steeper terrain.