Avalanche Forecast
South Coast
Human triggered avalanches remain likely Wednesday, especially in steep wind-loaded terrain above treeline. Choose conservative lines and watch for clues of instability.
Avalanche Problem 1: Storm Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Use caution in lee areas in the alpine and treeline. Recent storm snow has formed slabs.
- Watch for signs of instability such as whumpfing, or cracking.
- Be careful with wind loaded pockets, especially near ridge crests and roll-overs.
Avalanche Problem 2: Loose Wet
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Loose wet avalanches may still be problematic Wednesday morning in steep terrain where precipitation has fallen as rain.
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Avoid exposure to terrain traps where the consequences of a small avalanche could be serious.
Avalanche Summary
On Tuesday we received a report of a skier triggering a size 2.0 avalanche on the First Pump of Mount Seymour above the summer snowshoe trail. This is presumed to be the south facing slab at 1300 m, but this is not confirmed. On Monday storm slabs were sensitive to skier triggering to size 1.0 on northwest through southeast facing features with crowns 10 to 15 cm in depth.
Snowpack Summary
In the last 48 hours the North Shore Mountains have received about 85 mm of rain, and approximately 20 cm of snow with a rapidly fluctuating freezing level. 10 to 20 cm of rain soaked snow now rests on the rain crust that formed Monday January 8th. Below the January 8th crust there is 15 to 30 cm of well settled rain soaked snow, that snow sits on the January 7th melt/freeze crust. The January 8th crust may not be present in the Alpine where temperatures are thought to have stayed cooler over the last few days. Significantly more storm snow is likely present in the Alpine, but we have few observations from that elevation band. Check out this great MIN report for an idea of current alpine conditions.
Approximately 50 to 100 cm of moist snow are between the surface and a few prominent melt-freeze crusts that were buried mid-December, these crust layers have been reported to be bonding to the snow above and below.
The snowpack depth at 1000 m is about 150 cm and many early season hazards are still present.
Weather Forecast
The parade of Pacific storms will continue across southern B.C for the next several days, keeping alpine snow packs building through Thursday. The next system on Wednesday will be weak and affect mainly the south coast. Thursday's storm will be the main event of the week and feature moderate to heavy snow for the south coast alpine and much of the interior. The biggest snow accumulations this week will be over the South Coast and Interior Ranges.
WEDNESDAY: Overcast, freezing level holding at 800 m, moderate northwest wind, 1 to 3 cm of snow possible.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Freezing level at 1000 m, moderate south wind, 25 to 40 cm of snow possible.
THURSDAY: Overcast, freezing around 1100 m, strong west/southwest wind, 15 to 30 cm of snow possible.
FRIDAY: Overcast, freezing level around 900 m, light variable wind, no snow expected.
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 URL:
http://www.avalanche.ca/api/forecasts/south-coast.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.
20 to 40 cm of rain soaked storm snow rests on one or potentially even two crusts. This snow may react as a storm slab in steep terrain or as a wind slab in wind exposed features.