Avalanche Forecast
South Coast
If Friday night's storm arrives early, the avalanche danger may be higher than posted.
Avalanche Problem 1: Storm Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Be cautious as you transition into wind affected terrain.
- Be alert to conditions that change throughout the day.
Avalanche Summary
On Wednesday we received a fantastic MIN report of a size 1.5 skier triggered wind slab in the alpine. You can see it here. This report shows just how different the conditions are between the North Shore and the Squamish area. A new round of storm slab activity is expected in response to new snow and wind on Friday and Saturday. At elevations where rain falls, loose wet avalanches are also possible in steep terrain.
Snowpack Summary
In the last few days the North Shore Mountains received about 91 mm of rain, and approximately 20 cm of snow with a rapidly fluctuating freezing level. Depending on elevation, the upper snowpack is likely now a mix of moist snow, crusts and settling storm snow. Reactive storm slabs may exist at upper elevations.
Approximately 100 cm below the surface you may find a few prominent melt-freeze crusts that were buried mid-December, these crust layers have been reported to be bonding well to the mid-pack and are largely considered dormant.
The snowpack depth at 1000 m is about 150 cm and many early season hazards are still present.
Weather Forecast
Friday: About 10cm of the new snow with an additional 10-18cm overnight / Light and variable winds / Freezing level at 700m
Saturday: Mix of sun and cloud / Light southwest winds / Freezing level at 1900m
Sunday: Mostly clear skies / Light southwest winds / Freezing level at 2500m
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?
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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.
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- Voila! Watch the Avalanche Canada forecast roll into your inbox.
Forecast Disclaimer
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New snow and wind on Friday afternoon is expected to promote new storm slab development and increase the avalanche danger toward the end of the day. If the new snow arrives early, the avalanche danger may be higher than posted.