Avalanche Forecast
South Coast
Thursday's storm came in with moderate southerly winds that likely formed wind slabs up high which may rest on surface hoar, facets and/or crust. It may be calendar spring, but it's winter in the mountains, be very cautious in wind affected terrain.
Avalanche Problem 1: Storm Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Watch for whumpfing, shooting cracks and recent avalanches which indicate unstable storm slabs.
- Potential for wide propagation exists, fresh slabs may rest on surface hoar, facets and/or crust.
- Minimize exposure to sun exposed slopes if solar radiation becomes strong.
Avalanche Summary
Very little avalanche activity has been reported form the North Shore mountains where the storm began as rain and then transitioned to snow. In the alpine, new snow and wind Wednesday night into Thursday likely initiated natural storm slab avalanche activity.
Snowpack Summary
Around 45 mm of precipitation fell Thursday into early Friday morning. Rain transitioned to snow above 1000 m Thursday morning which produced about 25 cm of snow with light to moderate east/southeast wind. The warm to cold nature of the storm has allowed the new snow to bond well to the old surface up to treeline, but little is currently known about the alpine. The alpine likely saw very little if any rain and more snow/wind. Up high the new snow is thought to be sitting on a mixture of weak grains including a crust on solar aspects and potentially facets/surface hoar on polar aspects.
Below any recent snow accumulations, the overall snowpack is well settled and strong.
Weather Forecast
A cold and unstable pool of air is allowing for cooler than normal temperatures and also driving convective precipitation that should continue through Friday night. A bit of clearing is in store for Saturday before cloud builds back into the region Sunday.
FRIDAY NIGHT: Freezing level at 600 m, moderate southwest wind, 5 to 10 cm of snow.
SATURDAY: A few clouds, freezing level beginning at 500 m rising to 1000 m, light variable wind, no significant precipitation expected.
SUNDAY: A few clouds in the morning building to broken cloud cover in the afternoon, freezing level holding at about 600 m, light west/southwest wind, no significant precipitation expected.
MONDAY: Overcast, freezing level beginning around 600 m rising to about 1000 m, light southwest wind at 2000 m, moderate to strong west/northwest wind at ridge top, 2 to 4 mm of precipitation possible.
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.
Thursday's storm came in with moderate southerly wind that has likely formed slabs on lee alpine features. Storm slabs likely remain sensitive to human triggering. Periods of sun may also induce natural avalanche activity on solar aspects.