Vancouver Island

Recent warm weather has transformed our snow back into a typical coastal snowpack.

Take extra caution on steep slopes when they are in full sun.

On Tuesday, a loose wet avalanche cycle occurred up to size 1.5 at treeline and below treeline as a result of the rain.

With this warming event, remember that even a small loose wet avalanche can push a rider into or over a terrain trap, such as a cliff or gully feature.

A surface crust caps the snowpack, ranging from 3 cm below treeline to 1 cm in the alpine. The sun and heat will likely disintegrate this crust, but there is a chance of it being preserved on north aspects in the alpine.

The upper snowpack consists of 10-30 cm of rapidly settling and increasingly moist snow. This sits on a pronounced melt-freeze crust below 1500 m. Above 1500 m this melt-freeze crust begins to lose strength and is 1 cm thick or less.

The mid and lower snowpack remain moist and are generally well-settled and dense.

Wednesday Night

Partly cloudy. No new precipitation. Northwesterly winds 50 km/h. Treeline temperature 5 °C. Freezing level 2700 m.

Thursday

Increasing cloudiness. Trace precipitation late in the day. Northwesterly winds building through the day, 40-60 km/h. Treeline temperature 5 °C. Freezing level falling through the day 2500 to 1500 m

Friday

Mainly sunny. Trace precipitation. Northwesterly winds, 50-70 km/h. Treeline temperature 0 °C. Freezing level 1500 m.

Saturday

Sunny. No new precipitation. Northeasterly winds, 40 km/h. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 700 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Avoid steep slopes when air temperatures are warm, or solar radiation is strong.
• The more the snow feels like a slurpy, the more likely loose wet avalanches will become.