South Coast

Continued heavy storm loading throughout the week will keep the avalanche danger at HIGH.

Moderate - Freezing levels are uncertain

Tuesday: 20-30cm of new snow / Strong to extreme southerly winds / Freezing level at 1000mWednesday: 15-30cm of new snow / Strong southerly winds / Freezing level at 1400mThursday: 20-50cm of new snow / Moderate southerly winds / Freezing level at 800m

No new avalanches have been reported, but that may speak more to a lack of observations rather than actual conditions. I'm sure there was an impressive round of storm slab activity on Sunday, especially at higher elevations where the snow was colder and winds were stronger. With more snow and wind on the way, natural and human-triggered storm slab activity should continue throughout the week.

In recent days the region was pummeled by heavy precipitation with the rain line hovering around 800m. As of Monday morning, the 48 hour precipitation totals were up to 130mm on the North Shore mountains with closer to 60mm falling north of the Fraser Valley. Strong to extreme winds have redistributed the new snow into deep, dense and potentially destructive storm slabs while rain has saturated the snowpack at lower elevations. The reactivity of the new storm slabs is likely to vary greatly depending on elevation/ temperature and orientation to wind. In general, I would expect the touchiest conditions to exist in exposed, higher elevation terrain.