Avalanche Forecast
South Coast Inland
The snow is heavily wind-affected. Stick to sheltered trees to find the best and safest riding.
Avalanche Problem 1: Wind Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Use ridges or ribs to avoid pockets of wind loaded snow.
- Approach steep lee and cross-loaded slopes with caution.
- Pay attention to overhead hazards like cornices which could trigger a slab from the slope below.
Avalanche Summary
Recently. strong north wind has formed wind slabs at all elevations on southerly slopes. On Monday, natural wind slab avalanches and cornice failures were reported up to size 3. These failed on NE-S aspects above 1800 m. Loose dry sluffing from steeper terrain features was also noted. With little change in the weather forecast natural avalanche activity will subside, but human triggers remain possible.
Snowpack Summary
In sheltered terrain, cold weather is preserving low density snow from the recent storms. In exposed terrain, strong north and east winds have scoured windward slopes and loaded lee slopes. Storm totals from Saturday range from 30 cm in the Duffey area and other northern parts of the region, 50 cm around the Coquihalla, and 40 cm around Manning Park.
In southern parts of the region, the new snow sits above a widespread crust with well settled snow below the crust.
In northern parts of the region, avalanche professionals are still monitoring the mid-January crust and are avoiding shallow rocky slopes where triggering this layer is most likely. This layer is now 80-150 cm deep, but a heavy trigger (cornice?) or the next major storm (warming and loading) could potentially wake up this layer. Cornice growth has also been reported in northern parts of the region, which could be a potential trigger for an avalanches on the slopes below them.
Weather Forecast
A fairly benign weather pattern through the forecast period.
Wednesday: Mostly cloudy with some sunny periods and a chance of flurries. An alpine high temperature of -13 with generally light westerly winds and some strong gusts.
Thursday: Mostly sunny with an alpine high temperature of -7. Ridgetop winds light to moderate from the northeast.
Friday: Cloudy with new snow 5-15 cm with the higher accumulations in the south on the Coquihalla. Alpine temperatures near -5 and ridgetop winds moderate with strong gusts from the southwest.
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 Inland URL:
http://www.avalanche.ca/api/forecasts/south-coast-inland.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.
Strong winds from various directions (primarily north and east) have blown recent snow into reactive slabs at higher elevations.