Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Howson, Kitimat, Nass, Northwest Coastal, Rupert, Seven Sisters, Shames, Stewart, West Stikine.
With these north winds, be aware of the potential for reverse loading and encountering Wind Slabs in places you might not expect them.
Be especially cautious around treeline elevations where the recent snow is more likely to sit on top of a weak layer of preserved surface hoar.
Confidence
Moderate
Avalanche Summary
Two small wind slab avalanches were reported from the region in the last 48hrs.
If you head out in the backcountry please support your community by submitting a MIN report!
Snowpack Summary
20 to 50cm of recent snow overlies a layer of surface hoar (buried in early December), sized 5-10 mm. With north winds continuing, Wind Slabs will form on south through southeast aspects and cross-loaded features.
A layer that was buried in mid-November can be found 80 to 120cm deep at treeline and above. This layer consists of a crust below 1200m and a layer of surface hoar above this elevation. This layer has not shown any recent signs of instability.
In the alpine snowpack depths over 2 meters have been reported but the snowpack below treeline is still generally quite shallow.
Weather Summary
Wednesday night
Partly cloudy. Trace amounts of new snow. Winds from the northwest at 30km/h. Temperature at -5ËšC.
Thursday
Partly cloudy. No new snow. Winds from the northwest at 40km/h. Alpine temperatures up to +2ËšC.
Friday
Partly cloudy. Flurries beginning late in the day. Winds from the northwest at 40km/h decreasing late in the day. Temperature -5ËšC dropping to -10ËšC late in the day.
Saturday
Cloudy. Snow beginning overnight Friday with accumulations up to 10cm through Saturday. Winds from the southwest at 20km/h. Temperature -8ËšC.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
Terrain and Travel Advice
- Be carefull around freshly wind loaded features.
- Watch for areas of hard wind slab on alpine features.
- Back off if you encounter whumpfing, hollow sounds, or shooting cracks.
- Early season avalanches at any elevation have the potential to be particularly dangerous due to obstacles that are exposed or just below the surface.
Avalanche Problems
Wind Slabs
New windslabs will form with northwesterly outflow winds. Winds slabs could overlie a weak layer of surface hoar, facets and/or a crust. Any avalanche in the upper snowpack has the potential to scrub down to these deeper weak layers, making for larger then expected avalanches. This is especially relevant at treeline elevations where surface hoar is more likely larger and better preserved.
Aspects: East, South East, South, South West.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Possible - Likely
Expected Size: 1 - 2