Kitimat

A significant storm will impact the region overnight bringing heavy snowfall, wind, and rain. Very dangerous avalanche conditions will exist on Wednesday. Choose simple, low-angled terrain free of overhead hazards.

A natural avalanche cycle will likely occur overnight on Tuesday with heavy snowfall/rain and wind. This cycle may continue into the day on Wednesday. Human-triggered storm slabs will be very likely on Wednesday.

No recent avalanches have been reported in this region with limited reports coming out of these mountains. In the neighbouring region, several large (size 2-3) persistent slab avalanches occurred with explosive control on Monday. These avalanches failed on a weak facet layer formed in late December.

Several skier-triggered (size 1-2) persistent slab avalanches have been reported further inland around Terrace and Smithers over the past few days. These avalanches are failing on a weak layer of surface hoar in the upper meter of the snowpack. One of these slabs stepped down to a layer of weak, sugary, facetted crystals that were buried on December 23rd.

A significant storm impacting the region will bring 40-60 cm of new snow to upper elevations by Wednesday afternoon. Fresh snow will be falling mostly on 20-50 cm of dry settling snow or refrozen or moist snow below 1000 m.

Weak layers that were reactive over the Christmas and New Year's period have shown signs of bonding and gaining strength. These include a surface hoar layer buried on Dec 28 found 50 to 100 cm deep and a facet layer buried on Dec 23 found 70 to 120 cm deep.

Tuesday night

Cloudy with snowfall, 20 to 50 cm of accumulation. Alpine temperatures drop to a low of -2 °C. Ridge wind south 40 km/h gusting to 75 km/h. Freezing level 700 metres.

Wednesday

Mainly cloudy with snowfall, 10 to 20 cm of accumulation. Alpine temperatures reach a high of -2 °C. Ridge wind southwest 25-45 km/h. Freezing level 500 metres.

Cloudy with snowfall, 5 to 15 cm of accumulation. Alpine temperatures reach a high of -4 °C. Ridge wind southwest 30 - 55 km/h. Freezing level 600 metres.

Cloudy with flurries, 5-15 cm accumulation. Alpine temperatures reach a high of -1 °C. Ridge wind southwest 40-55 km/h. Freezing level 800 metres.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Avoid all avalanche terrain during periods of heavy loading from new snow, wind, or rain.
• Storm slabs in motion may step down to deeper layers resulting in large avalanches.
• Use conservative route selection. Choose simple, low-angle, well-supported terrain with no overhead hazard.
• As surface loses cohesion due to melting, loose wet avalanches become common in steeper terrain.