Vancouver Island

Heavy rain and extreme winds are forecast to continue; anticipate the potential for loose wet avalanches.

Saturday: Small loose wet avalanches were observed releasing out of steep, rocky terrain around treeline, near Mt. Washington

Friday: The field team reported seeing numerous small loose wet avalanches in the Mt. Arrowsmith area. For more details check out their MIN.

With the current warm and very wet conditions hitting the Island, we suspect a cycle of loose wet avalanches will continue.

Rain has saturated the snowpack right to mountaintop elevations, melting out the snowpack below treeline almost entirely, and leaving it mostly below the threshold for producing avalanches.

We suspect what remains of the snowpack at upper elevations is mostly isothermal.

The potential for loose wet avalanches to release due to continued heavy rain and warm temperatures continues.

Sunday Night

Cloudy with heavy rain, southwest alpine winds 100 km/h, treeline temperature 10°C, freezing levels around 2800 m.

Monday

Cloudy with very heavy rain, south alpine winds 90 km/h, treeline temperature 8°C, freezing levels around 2300 m.

Tuesday

Mostly cloudy with light to moderate rain, southwest alpine winds 30-50 km/h, treeline temperature 4°C, freezing levels around 1900 m.

Wednesday

Cloudy with moderate to heavy rain, southwest alpine winds 80-90 km/h, treeline temperature 8°C, freezing levels around 2200 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Avoid terrain traps such as gullies and cliffs where the consequence of any avalanche could be serious.
• The more the snow feels like a slurpy, the more likely loose wet avalanches will become.