Be alert to conditions that change with aspect and elevation.
Heightened avalanche conditions exist on specific terrain features.
Carefully assess your local conditions and consider how the weather affects the snowpack.
Recent snow has seen mild wind effect. Slabs have been soft and specific to immediate lees of ridge crests. They may remain rider-triggerable, especially on steep, unsupported and / or convex terrain features.
Loose wet avalanches will become increasingly likely on steep solar aspects as the surface becomes moist or wet with strong sun.
Over the weekend, numerous natural and skier-triggered loose dry avalanches were reported up to size 2 out of steep, north-facing terrain near treeline; and solar-triggered loose wet avalanches up to size 1 out of steep solar aspects at all elevations. Storm slabs were fairly unreactive with a single report of a skier-triggered size 1 on a northeast aspect near treeline, despite extensive ski cutting avalanche control work.
If you head out in the backcountry, let us know what you are seeing by submitting a report to the Mountain Information Network.
Another round of snow brought 15-20 cm of snow into the region Monday night. On steep southerly aspects and low elevations, a moist or crusty surface has likely formed. Recent snow from the past weekend (30-50 cm) has seen modest wind effect, with wind loading mostly isolated to the immediate lees of ridge top. Recent snow appears to be bonding well to underlying surfaces, including melt-freeze crusts.
The mid and lower snowpack consists of several old crusts and facetted snow that continue to be monitored, particularly in shallow snowpack areas.
Fair weather continues until a warm system crashes into the south coastal ranges Friday. Warm & windy conditions are expected to impact the region over the weekend.
Tuesday night
Mostly cloudy with clear periods. Light southwesterly wind. Alpine low -2 °C. Freezing level at valley bottom.
Wednesday
A mix of sun and cloud. Light southwest wind increasing to moderate. Alpine high -1 °C. Freezing level rises to 1500 m.
Thursday
Mostly cloudy. Moderate southwest wind gusting 40 km/h. Alpine high 0 °C. Freezing level rises to 1800 m.
Friday
Cloudy. Isolated flurries up to 5 cm. Moderate southwest wind gusting 40 km/h Alpine high 0 °C. Freezing level rises to 1800 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
