Northwest Coastal

Wind continues to be the story in the Northwest. Forecast strong southerly winds may keep wreaking havoc on the snowpack. Be alert to variable and changing conditions.

Poor - Due to the number of field observations

Saturday: Continued light snowfall another 5-15 cm is possible. The freezing level starts to rise to around 600-800 m by the end of the day. Winds increase to strong from the SW. Sunday: Mainly cloudy with a chance of flurries. The freezing level is around 800 m but could pop up to 1500 m near the coast. Ridge winds are moderate to strong from the S. Monday: Periods of rain or snow. The freezing level could rise to 1800 m late in the day. Winds could be extreme from the S-SW.

There are no new reports of natural or rider triggered avalanches. Please let us know what you're seeing out there. Email us at [email protected].

Conditions vary significantly throughout the region, at different elevations, and on different aspects. The common theme is that the snowpack is generally shallow, quite facetted (sugary), and very wind affected. Expected snowfall later on Friday will cover a variety of surface forms including surface hoar or faceted snow in sheltered areas, and wind slab or ice crusts in exposed terrain. Strong E-SE winds have created dense new wind slabs in open north or west-facing terrain. Old hard wind slabs may also be lurking underneath. The mid-November crust-facet layer is now 40-60 cm deep and continues to show easy to moderate shears in snowpack tests. Deeper in the snowpack, at 80 cm down there is another crust that is breaking down and becoming bonded to the surrounding snow.