Avalanche Forecast
Regions: East Island, North Island, South Island, Vancouver Island, West Island.
Danger will increase throughout the day on Thursday with the arrival of new snow and extreme wind.
Confidence
Moderate
Avalanche Summary
Recent reports have been limited to small loose avalanches, but wind slab avalanches are expected to be very likely in the alpine with the incoming storm on Thursday.
Snowpack Summary
New snow amounts will increase with elevation and be heavily wind-affected in open areas. Recent snow from the past week (10 to 30 cm) has quickly bonded to underlying wet snow and crust layers.
Lower elevations are melting out quickly.
Weather Summary
Wednesday Night
Cloudy with 2 to 5 cm of snow. 40 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 1- °C. Freezing level climbing from 1200 to 1500 m.
Thursday
Cloudy with 20 to 30 cm of snow above 1200 m. 70 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1 °C. Freezing level around 1500 m.
Friday
Mostly cloudy with 5 to 10 cm of snow. 20 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C. Freezing level 1000 m.
Saturday
Sunny. 30 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 0 °C. Freezing level 1500 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
Terrain and Travel Advice
- Avoid freshly wind-loaded terrain features.
- Dial back your terrain choices if you are seeing more than 20 cm of new snow.
- Avalanche danger is expected to increase throughout the day.
Avalanche Problems
Wind Slabs
Fresh wind slabs will form quickly Thursday afternoon as new snow falls with extreme southerly winds.
Aspects: North, North East, East, South West, West, North West.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Very Likely
Expected Size: 1 - 2