Northwest Coastal

Good

Generally settled weather with flurries possible throughout the forecast period, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Winds generally light, initially from the southeast, becoming southerly on Sunday and Monday. Freezing levels going up to around 800 m during the day and dropping down to valley bottom each night.

On Thursday, two natural slab avalanches were observed, one size 1.5 on a north aspect at 1250 m with a fracture line 40cm deep in the recent storm snow. The other was a glide release at 575m near Terrace caused by warm temperatures. Numerous wet loose avalanches were also observed. On Wednesday, a size 3 natural cornice failure was observed in the region on Wednesday.

Sporadic strong and variable winds have redistributed moderate amounts of recent storm snow into wind slabs that most commonly exist in the lee of terrain features at treeline and in the alpine.In the northern part of the region two persistent weak layers are on the radar of some operators: Surface hoar buried at the beginning of March is as much as 70cm deep. The early February persistent weak layers (surface hoar, facets, crusts) are over a metre down. Although triggering persistent weaknesses has become less likely, persistent slabs would be destructive in nature, particularly below treeline on isolated and sheltered steep terrain where buried surface hoar may be preserved. Cornices in the region are reported to be very large and potentially unstable.