South Coast

It may have been a white Christmas, but don't expect much change until we ho, ho, hopefully see some appreciable precipitation later in the week.

Moderate - Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain on Thursday

TUESDAY: Mix of sun and cloud. Ridge wind light from the west. Temperature -4. Freezing level surface.WEDNESDAY: Mostly cloudy, flurries. Accumulation 5 cm. Ridge wind light to moderate from the southwest. Temperature -3. Freezing level surface.THURSDAY: Snow. Accumulation 15- 25 cm. Ridge wind moderate from the southwest. Temperature +1. Freezing level 1000 m.

There have been no new reports of avalanche activity since last Wednesday when a natural Size 2 slab avalanche was reported on a southeast aspect at 1400 m on the North Shore mountains, as well as a Size 1 on a west aspect at 1200 m.

A light dusting of new snow now covers the variable old surface consisting of; wind-scoured northwesterly slopes, areas of hard and soft wind slab on alpine lee slopes and exposed treeline areas, as well as a thin sun crust on steep solar aspects. Approximately 2-5 cm of new snow overlies 15-30 cm of old storm snow on top of the most recent December 18th melt-freeze crust, which has been unreactive in recent snowpack tests. Below this crusts lies 20 cm of well settled snow above the December 16th crust. Below this crust, a third crust, the 20 cm thick late-November crust, is now buried 40-50 cm. The lower snowpack well settled and moist to ground. Snowpack depths are about 135 cm at 1100 m elevation, with many early season hazards present at lower elevations.