Weather Forecast
Tuesday: Up to 50cm possible for immediate coastal areas, freezing levels around 1500 but rising as high as 2500m by the evening, and strong to extreme southwesterly winds. Wednesday: Another 40-50mm expected for coastal areas with freezing levels dropping throughout the day to around 1600m, and continued strong to extreme southwesterly winds. Thursday: Light to moderate snowfall in the morning with a drying and cooling trend expected throughout the day.
Avalanche Summary
Check out the Incident Report Database (under the Bulletins tab) for a report of a close call involving snowmobilers south of Squamish over the weekend.
Snowpack Summary
Large cornices and wind slabs remain weak and wind-exposed areas are highly variable. Recent warm temperatures left a thin weak surface crust as high as alpine elevations, and helped settle out the weakness within and under last week's storm snow. In the mid snowpack, a weak rain crust extends up to treeline elevations, below which facets and/or surface hoar may be lurking. These weaknesses were recently responsible for large avalanches. Deep persistent weaknesses recently became active again with heavy triggers, and remain a concern in shallow rocky areas.
Problems
Wind Slabs
Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.
Storm Slabs
Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.