Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Regions
South Coast.
Change is in the air with forecast warming and sunshine set to promote surface instabilities on Tuesday.
Confidence
Moderate - Timing or intensity of solar radiation is uncertain
Weather Forecast
Monday night: Clear skies. Light northeast winds.Tuesday: Sunny with some low cloud. Light northwest winds. Alpine high temperatures increasing to around 0 as freezing levels rise to 1500 metres, increasing overnight.Wednesday: Sunny. Light northeast winds. Alpine high temperatures around +3 with freezing levels reaching 2200 metres.Thursday: Sunny with scattered cloud. Light northeast winds. Alpine temperatures around +2 with freezing levels still hovering near 2200 metres.
Avalanche Summary
No avalanches have been reported. Please submit any observations you have to the Mountain Information Network here.
Snowpack Summary
The warm storm early last week produced over 200 mm of precipitation that mostly fell as rain. This rain washed away much of the snowpack at lower elevations. The highest alpine terrain in the region more likely received heavy snowfall during the storm. This snowfall, paired with extreme winds out of the south/southwest is likely to have produced cornice growth along many ridgelines.Alpine areas near Squamish have the most snow, with around 70 cm of settled snow on the ground. In these areas there may be a crust lower in the snowpack, however it is likely now well bonded to the overlying storm snow. It is thought that there is insufficient snow for avalanches below 1500 m.
Problems
Loose Wet
Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.
Cornices
Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.