Avalanche Forecast
South Coast
Heavy precipitation, wind, and rising freezing levels are expect Monday night and Tuesday. High alpine areas will receive snow while at lower elevations a mix of heavy snow and rain are expected. Avalanche activity will increase with the storm.
Avalanche Problem 1: Storm Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Avoid avalanche terrain during periods of heavy loading from new snow, wind, or rain.
- Watch for whumpfing, shooting cracks and recent avalanches which indicate unstable storm slabs.
Avalanche Summary
Ski cutting on the North Shore mountains on Monday morning produced widespread size 1 storm slab releases on all aspects within the recent storm snow.
Reports from the northern part of the region around Squamish over the weekend indicate that a natural avalanche cycle occurred in steep and convex alpine terrain with last week's storm.
Expect natural activity to continue with the new storm load, rain, and rising freezing levels on Tuesday.
Snowpack Summary
The North Shore mountains received 25-30 cm overnight on Sunday and another 10-15 cm throughout the day on Monday, bringing storm snow totals to around 60-80 cm since last Thursday which is generally bonded well to the old surface up to treeline elevations.
Alpine areas around Squamish have likely received about 60-100 cm of storm snow and more wind. In these areas the storm snow is likely sitting on a mixture of weak grains including a crust on solar aspects and potentially facets/surface hoar on polar aspects.
Below the storm snow the snowpack is generally well settled and strong.
Weather Forecast
There is uncertainty with freezing levels and how much precipitation will fall as rain/snow up to treeline. Alpine areas will likely see heavy snowfall.
TONIGHT: Snow and rain. Precipitation 25-35 mm. Ridge wind moderate to strong, southwest. Temperature at treeline near 0. Freezing level 1200 m.
TUESDAY: Snow and rain. Precipitation 5-15 mm. Ridge wind moderate, west. Temperature at treeline near 0. Freezing level rising to 1700 m.
WEDNESDAY: Mix of sun and cloud. Ridge wind light, northwest. Temperature at treeline near -3. Freezing level 1000 m.
THURSDAY: Cloudy, flurries. Accumulation 5-10 cm. Ridge wind light west. Temperature at treeline near -1. Freezing level 1200 m.
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.
Significant snow and southwest winds have formed reactive storm slabs. These may be surprisingly deep and touchy in wind loaded areas near treeline and in the alpine. Rising freezing levels and rain will increase natural avalanche activity.