Northwest Coastal

Be conservative with your terrain choices. Recent, warm, stormy weather brought rapid change to the snowpack, and freezing levels are forecasted to rise again. Variable surface conditions have made mountain travel challenging.

Warm air from the incoming front will ride on top of colder air, making for a wide variety of freezing levels across the region for Friday.

THURSDAY NIGHT: Mostly clear. No new snow expected. Light to moderate northwest wind. Freezing level rising to 2000 m around Terrace and Kitimat. Staying near valley bottom north of Terrace. 

FRIDAY: Mostly sunny. No new snow expected. Moderate west wind. Freezing levels up to 2000 m around Terrace and Kitimat. Rising to 500 m north of Terrace. 

SATURDAY: Partly cloudy by the afternoon. Light snow/rain expected. Moderate to strong west wind. Freezing levels around 2000 m.

SUNDAY: Mostly cloudy. Light snow/rain expected. Light south wind. Freezing levels falling to 1000 m by the afternoon.

Most new avalanche observations from Thursday likely occured during the storm on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, heavy precipitation, rising freezing levels, and strong wind caused a widespread natural avalanche cycle. The largest reported were size 4 in Bear Pass, with avalanches starting as storm or wind slabs and stepping down to old weak layers from January and December in some cases. Most other avalanches reported were wet loose, or wet slabs. Many professional operators were reporting natural avalanches running full path to valley bottom. An exception is around Shames where avalanches were still large, but stopping mid-track.

A wet, warm, rainy storm on Wednesday soaked the upper snowpack up to mountaintop in the southern half of the region. Freezing levels dropped to around 1000 m on Thursday, and they'll vary across the region on Friday (ranging from valley bottom in the north end of the region, to 2000 m in the south). You may find a solid, supportive crust, a breakable crust over moist snow, or loose, wet snow. Prepare for challenging travel conditions, either slide-for-life, or super grabby.

At higher elevations that did not see much rain, expect the new snow to have formed reactive windslabs in lee terrain due to consistently strong south through west winds. 

Down 60-100 cm, you may find a weak layer of surface hoar crystals, particularly around treeline elevations in terrain features sheltered from the wind. This layer may be found immediately above a hard melt-freeze crust.

Deeper in the snowpack, another surface hoar layer from mid-January may be found around 80 to 120 cm deep at higher elevations in sheltered terrain. This layer is most problematic where it overlies a hard melt-freeze crust.

• When a thick, melt-freeze surface crust is present, avalanche activity is unlikely.
• A crust on the surface will help bind the snow together, but may make for tough travel conditions.
• Be alert to conditions that change with elevation and sun exposure.
• Although their spatial distribution is isolated, wind slabs are reactive.
• Recent wind has varied in direction so watch for wind slabs on all aspects.